Kanimaeli - Spirit of Air
A New Quest
I was briefly hopeful… if this obelisk could open a path to a realm of Earth, then it should be able to open a path to a realm of Air as well, right? Could we go home now?! Xlotl did not seem so sure; he shared some more information on his mission here. Lord Aergarnion had sent him to secure Antiva, the “life-giver”, which we had sort of done (although it was still split in two). But he had also been tasked to restore Kanimaeli, the “Spirit of the Air”. More worryingly, Lord Aergarnion had collapsed before Xlotl left, and when Xlotl had tried to help he had a vision of chaos. Without Antiva and Kanimaeli in the temple, it was possible that the flow of energy that sustained Lord Aergarnion’s realm (and the other elemental Realms) had been broken. Taking Antiva to the Air realm might help in the short term but would inevitably lead to war with the other elementals – better to return and restore the stones if we could.
Xlotl pulled a scroll out of thin air, but as he did so Pi started to dissolve! Xlotl tried to stuff it back away quickly, which did slow down the effect, but Pi was still drifting apart into motes of light. Antinniera tried to get hold of him to help, but there was a flash and the same thing started to happen to her! I rushed over, wanting to help as well, but Xlotl warned me not to touch them – there was too much energy surrounding them. Pi seemed fascinated by what was happening to him and walked towards us… we both backed off and shouted at him to stay back until we knew what was happening!
Pi stepped back, so far back in fact that he stepped off the platform completely. Miraculously, the Air embraced him, and he didn’t fall – this was a blessing! Xlotl took out his scroll again, and as he did so Pi immediately exploded into millions of shards of light that shot into wherever Xlotl had taken the scroll from. Antinneira went the same way moments later – they had both been transported to somewhere else, although for what reason we didn’t know. Xlotl started reading the scroll he had retrieved, and I could see the air starting to swirl around him as he did so. I lifted the platform slowly up into the Air about six feet, and the Air was swirling in an ordered way about him as he continued reading and chanting. Eventually Xlotl heard a voice that said: “you bring us Life”? It seemed that an Air spirit had answered his call, but that it wanted feeding! Xlotl made it clear that he wasn’t willing to feed it life but asked it more about Kanimaeli. The spirit’s answers made it clear to Xlotl that the “stone of Air” we had seen taken from the temple was Kanimaeli, and the spirit described it as the “path home, leading to our Lord Aergarnion”, Kanimaeli was “the door”.
Xlotl lost his connection with the Air spirit, and I lifted us up more rapidly to reach the top of the black pillar. We transferred over to the other platform, not concerned now with the pillar as it was dormant again, and I lifted us back to the chamber above. There was a sense of doom up there still, and I noted that the Air was flowing down gently, trying to get away from something. We were both exhausted, physically and mentally, so I lowered us back down to the level of the water and the other side passage. We rested there, and even managed to get a decent amount of sleep, until we were both woken by sounds up above us.
The voices sounded Saloroc in nature, and we could see light reflected in the chamber above. Xlotl turned himself invisible and slid on to the platform, causing it to sway slightly. The movement was obviously noticed, as excited jabbering could be heard above, but at least they couldn’t see him. I was wary that they were likely to just drop the stone cap down on top of use, so I shouted up to them: “are there were any servants of Lord Admir up there”?
Inevitably they wanted to know who I was, but didn’t really listen to the response. They had apparently decided that anything from the pit was evil and should stay in it, so they were going to seal it anyway! I rushed to raise the platform as quickly as I could, and thankfully the cap was so large and heavy that they hadn’t even got it moving as we neared the top. They abandoned that, and instead three of them jumped down onto the platform with swords drawn. Suddenly the rope holding the platform started to unravel - Xlotl had bitten into it! One foe quickly reversed his approach and started to climb out, while I managed to dodge the attacks of the other two and climb out myself. A sword did rake my back as I pulled myself out, but I made it just before Xlotl bit into the rope again and it started to give completely.
I shouted that they should listen to reason, but another Saloroc near the entrance lunges at me, trying to force me back over the edge. I dodged to one side, though, and couldn’t resist as he lost his balance beside me… I grabbed his belt and collar and just swung, using his momentum to “help” him into the pit. I cheekily said: “let me help you find the gift of Air”, followed with calling down “you’re welcome” as he, the platform, and the two others that were on it went crashing down the shaft. There were two Saloroc still in the room, though, and they didn’t look happy!
I stepped away from the edge, not wanting to go the same way, and sliced across the throat of the nearest foe with Storm. He clutched at his throat and tumbled into the hole, blood spraying as he fell. Xlotl appeared near the entrance, looking up the corridor, and sent a mental blast towards some more Saloroc that had heard the cries of the others. This seemed to enrage them further, but one did stop and looked very confused. I charged at the last one in the room, cutting into him with both fans before he could react. He fell dead, laying balanced on the rim of the hole but not falling. I tried to nudge him over the edge, but was interrupted by another Saloroc that had run into the room from the corridor. There was another just behind him, eyes wide and spitting mad, but he went for Xlotl instead. He held a sword, but had also grabbed a bow that he was using as a makeshift club. Xlotl suffered under his furious assault and was not looking healthy!
I struck one blow, but it wasn’t enough to drop my assailant. I was worried about Xlotl, though. He had managed to bite his foe, but had only scratched him. There was a bit of a dance after that, while we all dodged and deflected blows, but I finally managed to strike my foe and send them falling into the pit. I noticed that the body still perched on the edge was being slowly desiccated – it seemed the Air spirit had received a gift of life after all! I ran over to help Xlotl, just in time to see him struck with the bow; thankfully it was more of an accidental bonk than a forceful blow, so he was still conscious when I arrived. I reached out a hand and willed energy into him, healing the worst of his wounds.
Xlotl had already lunged at his attacker, and this time connected well. He ripped free, leaving a deep gouge and the Saloroc dropped. Finally we were alone and could take a minute. I needed to perform my daily mediation exercises, and Xlotl needed time to do something similar. Xlotl agreed to keep watch first, so I set out some incense and got it burning with my fire stick before running through my basic forms and refocusing my ki. Xlotl searched the remaining bodies, finding and drinking a potion to heal more of his wounds, then went into the corridor to watch the confused Saloroc. Eventually the Saloroc started to regain his senses, and Xlotl flapped his wings, drawing up to his full height screaming: “Stay back, stay back”! He settled again, but remained alert, saying: “leave us alone; we came here as friends but you tried to kill us”.
It did seem that he made an impression, as the Saloroc looked terrified! He asked about the others, and Xlotl explained that they were dead, saying: “they attacked us and suffered the consequence; leave us”. The Saloroc seemed torn, unwilling to leave but also unwilling to approach. Xlotl asked why they had come here, to which he replied: “we live here”! Xlotl questioned this, as we had found Dua’rev when we came, and was glad to hear that the Dua'rev were “all gone now, thank Admir”. Eventually it was just a stalemate of both watching each other, with Xlotl even saying: “you stay over there and I'll stay over here”. The Saloroc was slumped on the stairs, just watching.
After a pause, Xlotl asked: “why did you attack us”? The response was: “everything in the pit is evil”! Well yeah, that’s why we were trying to get out. Apparently “no-one comes out sane” and it was “sealed for a reason”. Are sane? Depends on your perspective, I guess. After that it just descended into needling banter, although this seemed to relax the Saloroc, as if he was used to this kind of interaction. Once I had finished my exercises, I swapped places with Xlotl. This confused the Saloroc further, of course, but he didn’t get any different answers and eventually just waved his hand at me and wandered off. I waited for Xlotl, but did go as far as the top of the stairs to see if anything had changed. There was dead Air and the stink of death down the corridor on the left, and more dead Air on the right as well, which I knew was a dead end.
When Xlotl joined me, about half an hour later, we moved up to investigate the passage on the right. In the dark, it was as if the passage just turned into a void of nothingness as far as I could tell. No Air moved for me to see any more, but Xltol was able to clearly see the eight-pointed star in the wall at the end, which I had seen previously. He placed Antiva in the centre of the star, despite my reservations about the apparent alignment with Earth, and then there was a flash of energy shooting out to the eight points. This left the two symbols highlighted and visible (Life and Earth), and then the wall crumbled to dust! The air beyond that was still dead, so I stumbled back to the room I knew was at the end of the main corridor, grabbing some oil and a torch from the tables there. I located one of the lanterns that were on the walls and used the oil to relight it so that I could see.
We moved up the revealed passage, finding a room with a stone sarcophagus inside, which was decorated with murals. The one facing me depicted a void centrally with humanoid shapes stretched out from it, as if being drawn into the void. The end on the right showed an ash cloud spewing from a volcano, although there was no sign of Fire. On the opposite side was a dusty, lifeless desert. The top contained an eight-pointed star, but with no visible symbology.
As I was looking more closely at this, a crack of noise startled me as a split rent the lid of the sarcophagus in two down the centre.
I ran back to the room entrance, seeing Xlotl back off as well, then peered back into the room to see what was happening. The two parts of the stone lid were thrown asunder and a terrifying, gaunt figure with glowing eyes wearing ornate robes sat up. As I watched, he started to levitate above the sarcophagus, hovering whilst mumbling under his breath. I decided that this wasn’t something we wanted to be around, and turned to flee, frankly terrified. Xlotl was right behind me, and there was an ominous silence as the mumbling stopped when we were about halfway down the corridor. I used the air to move swiftly towards the end, but instead ran straight into an invisible barrier across the entrance. We were trapped!
I checked high and low, but there were no gaps we could squeeze through. I jogged back to Xlotl, who had stopped at my warning. He was levitating what looked like a Pegasus feather in front of him, but I felt heaviness in my heart as I knew there was nothing we could do. I called out: “what do you want with us”?
A booming reply came back: "must we converse like peasants; will you not approach"?
Xlotl replied: "You seem strange and threatening to us, why would we wish to converse with you"? There was no answer.
Resigned to our fate, I called out: “I will come and speak”.
This time there was a reply: “approach; do not worry, I am not afraid". Yeah, I didn't for a moment think that HE was the one that would be afraid! When I stepped back into the room, I found him at least stood on the ground instead of floating in the air. I introduced myself, noticing that Xlotl had moved up behind me as well. He said that he was Artemus, the Lord Pavant. That didn’t mean anything to me, but he did recognise that Antiva was favoured by Lord Admir, one of the three true divinities of Creation. He was dismissive of all others that would call themselves Gods, calling them pretenders, and seemed to think little of Lord Aergarnion. He was keen that we kept Antiva away from him, though, so he might have some weakness.
He said that he was grateful to us for freeing him, however unwittingly. He had been trapped a long time ago due to what he called “a disagreement”. Agents of the three true divinities had worked together to trap him, it seemed, and now he saw an opportunity due to their waning influence. In return for our assistance, he asked what we sought as a boon. This thing reeked of evil to me, and I quickly said that all I desired was my freedom and my life. Xlotl was more interested in what he might learn, asking about the other stones and the stone of Air in particular. Artemus replied that we already knew how to find the stones we sought – using the compass. He also, somehow, imparted the knowledge of how to use the compass properly to Xlotl. By using a pure element (the purer the better), applied to the compass, it would be activated and guide us… assuming we had the will to control it.
Xlotl asked for more, which I thought foolish of such a creature, but he desired protection for us all rather than just himself so he perhaps wasn’t just after power. He wanted the means to resist damage from the elements he was opposed to: Earth and Fire. Artemus conjured spheres of pure Earth and Fire in his hands and then pressed them together, clearly working hard to force them to combine, until there was a ball of magma. This glowed with energy, first red, then orange, then gold and finally bright white such that we couldn’t look directly at it. When the light faded enough to see again, he was holding a small marble, burning with fire. He somehow fused that to a simple gold band, such that could be worn on a finger. He threw it towards Xlotl, who took control of it. He said that it would protect the wearer and those around them. Later Xlotl asked for a thread so that he could wear it around his neck.
That was the end of our “audience” it seemed – he “had a world to rule” and we “had the remains of our lives to lead” and he bid us go. I didn’t need telling twice, I was happy to go! As I walked with haste down the corridor, I suddenly heard his voice in my head. He said that I was wise to seek only freedom, and therefore he gifted me with knowledge. I suddenly understood the history of the fans my father gave me, somewhat in awe of what I had been carrying and using without knowing what they could do or how they had come to be. It was humbling, but I still wanted to get away from that place as quickly as possible!
Once we were back in the main corridor I felt a little calmer, and we steeled ourselves to try and gather as much information as we could before returning to the surface. Despite the stench and feeling of Death, we explored the other corridor we had bypassed so far. The air here did seem more normal, which was reassuring, and there was even a trace of pure elemental Air. This intrigued me, and I quickened my pace towards the corner ahead. The stone was worn and pitted, which didn’t match the other corridors the Dua'rev had used; perhaps they did not come this way? Beyond the corner, the corridor continued to wind left and right with now visible moisture on the walls. At the end it opened into a room with dusty earth filling cracks between stone flagstones on the floor. Within the corridor, elemental Air intermingled with stale air and Xlotl literally tasted the water on the walls and said that it was pure, even though old.
Within the room there were a number of stone sarcophagi, and as we approached and saw more of the room it looked like there were over a dozen of them, with four opposite the entrance we approached from. All were missing their lids, and they looked like they had exploded outwards by the rubble and dust surrounding them. Some had their sides buckled inwards as well, and there was a layer of mud within at least some of them.
I called into the room: “hello, spirit of the Air, are you there”?
I got an immediate response: “death within, death without, death to all”!
Xlotl joined the conversation, asking what it was that brought death, and the response was: "I do"! Xlotl asked if that meant Death, even to those of Air, to which the reply was simply “Death to all”! Nice.
Xlotl pressed the issue: “why do you seek death, not all Air does”? It said that it had been asleep so long, but the Life-Giver had awakened it. Xlotl then called out in the language of Water, and he said that he received a similar response, as Water was also hungry.
Xlotl produced the Pegasus feather again, speaking words imbued with power, saying that the spirits would not harm either of us, that they would be forced away. I felt a sense of awe as power emanated from the feather, backing away involuntarily. I watched as Xlotl stepped into the room; he saw a whirling wind on the far side, where the Air spirit seemed to have been forced back, but as he kept moving forward, we sensed movement in the stone floor heading towards him. He quickly left and I moved back down the corridor to give him space. We suspected another stone worm, but thankfully it did not follow as we backtracked.
We returned all the way to the door that led to where we had found the Dua’rev artists when we first entered. The door was closed, but not secured and we opened it easily. There were four Saloroc within the room, who it seemed had been relaxed, at least until we entered! We recognised one – he was the individual that watched as we rested near the entrance to the pit.
He shouted: “it's them, the ones from the Death pit”! I tried to explain that Artemus had arisen, and was behind us, so we should all flee. They seemed to recognise the name and circled their hearts as if making a protective ward – his legend lived on here, it seemed. They were not about to let us leave, though, even if it meant leaving us in captivity. We had no choice but to defend ourselves.
One shouted: "back, back evil one"! He swung his sword wildly at me, although it was easy to dodge aside. Xlotl attacked with his mind, but this just seemed to enrage two of them. He was attacked by two but managed to snap his fangs into the closest one. He reached for the other with his coiled tail but couldn’t grasp him. The two nearest me were wild with rage, throwing themselves at me with no care for their own safety, and both died quickly as the fans of my ancestors bit into their throats. Xlotl took a hit, though, and did not look well! He managed to bite one attacker, but the other struck him and he collapsed to the ground just as I reached his side – too late!
I quickly cut the weakened one down, and instead of launching straight into another attack I confronted the last one with words. It was the same individual from before, and I shouted that we should stop fighting – there were greater evils that we needed to escape and warn the world about. He hesitated, then demanded that I call on Lord Admir to judge me if I truly was not evil.
If it meant peace, then I would happily do so and I spoke loudly: “Admir judge me”!
It was strange; I definitely felt a presence as if someone (or something) turned its attention to me, but after a few seconds with nothing happening the Saloroc lowered his sword slightly and admitted that perhaps there was some truth in what I said. I confided that I had felt Admir for a moment, to which he replied: “of course, he is everywhere”!
It seemed the fight was over, thankfully, and the Saloroc turned to leave, urging me to follow. I wasn’t going without helping Xlotl, though! My new, uneasy, ally misinterpreted my intent at first, thinking that I wanted to give Xlotl a clean death! Once I explained that I thought I could save his life, he looked a little disgusted but passed me a potion that I forced down Xlotl’s neck. Sure enough, as I had hoped, it was enough to revive him. Now we could leave together, and the Saloroc said: “we must flee, now”!
As I tended to Xlotl, the Saloroc made a quick exit. It seemed odd that the supposed followers of Lord Admir, creator of all life, cared so little for the lives of others. One of the Saloroc bodies was starting to smoulder as Xlotl searched for more of their healing potions, finding two that were nearly empty and glugging them both down. I retrieved the lantern I had dropped earlier, noticing that the corpse it was near was now getting very hot. We went back through the door we had entered by, Xlotl now more confident that we could face the elementals we had encountered earlier. As I closed the door, I noticed that the corpse had burst into flames – the first we had seen in this Realm!
Elements and the Path to Death
We passed the junction that led to Artemus’ tomb, which was noticeably devoid of life. It wasn’t like the sense of Death from the corridor we intended to follow; there was just nothing there. We returned to the room with the multiple sarcophagi and Xlotl called out from the entrance, although I didn’t know what he said as it was in the tongue of Elemental Water. He received a reply, though, and apparently the water spirit knew of Xlotl through its old spirit, but it was a new spirit as the “spirit that was no longer flows”. Randomly, Xlotl asked me if I had any live fish! It seemed that the spirit was hungry, seeking food for energy, but I hadn’t packed any fish and they wouldn’t have survived this long if I had!
The water spirit knew patience, though, and would wait. The Air spirit was quite different – it was impatient and wanted to kill and feed! It thought nothing of me, but I explained that Xlotl was a powerful member of Lord Aergarnion’s court and convinced it to be wary of us. Xlotl helpfully suggested that I could lure the Earth spirit out, and that the Air spirit could perhaps feed on that when it inevitably attacked us. I went through the correct movements to shape the Air in the form of Protection of the East, using it as a barrier to deflect attacks as I walked into the room. Once I was about ten feet in, I noticed the stone rippling as one of the worms approached. It opened its maw below me, as expected, but it was much faster than I had anticipated, and it ripped at my leg as I just about managed to jump free before the jaws closed.
Xlotl moved up to support me, biting down into its still-visible jaws in a weird snake-to-worm mouth-on-mouth thing. His fangs jarred against the hard stone but did seem to have an impact. He then attacked with his mind, and that definitely did something because the worm froze, its jaws still visible just out of the stone but no longer moving. I watched warily as Xlotl moved farther into the room, exploring the far end where we couldn't see before. There were another couple of sarcophagi that were buckled in, one of the mostly intact sarcophagi had the Water resting within it, one was empty, and the last had faint traces of energy, dark in nature, with ash inside. There was an opening to the left that seemed to transition from dressed stone to hewn stone.
I looked at one of the buckled sarcophagi that was near me, asking the Air spirit about it, and it said that the great nothingness had taken from it – a void or vacuum of some sort? Was that when we released Artemus? Xlotl found a tendril of mud snapping at him from a sarcophagus that still had traces of energy, but stayed out of its reach. He also saw a deep nothing in the wall on his right, circular but set slightly within the floor. I joined him, and found that he was staring at it without moving, and when I looked to see what was so fascinating I found myself mesmerised, losing any sense of time or place. I was snapped out of it when I felt something drawing life from me from behind me – it was the Air spirit whipping at me hungrily. I instinctively send a thunderburst out, pushing the spirit back slightly, but also pushing Xlotl hard towards the void circle! It did at least bring him back to his senses.
In my defensive reaction, I shouted “leave us the fuck alone! Back away”! The spirit did back off, but said “but you were gone”. As I fully regained my senses, I apologised - the spirit was right to wake us. Xlotl was not too happy about the rough treatment my thunderburst had given him, though. We were both happy to move away from the black circle, though, noting that it wasn’t the first we had seen – in fact there had been one in the temple we first arrived in when we left Lord Aergarnion. As my lantern light played over the empty sarcophagus, we noticed that there was an eight-pointed star lightly engraved within the base, although we didn’t know what the significance of that was.
We approached the opening on the left, seeing that it opened up fairly quickly into a hewn cave with pillars of rock still within. A miasma of Death still pervaded the place, but otherwise the air seemed normal. The rock within the pillars seemed different, darker than the rest, but to be honest I don't know much about rock so I couldn’t say more than that. Xlotl did take a look and concluded that it would have been harder to carve because it harder than other rock. I moved forwards into the room and started to flow around to the left, avoiding the irregular columns, but Xlotl noticed a bright spot of energy in the floor in the entrance to a passage beyond the room to our right.
I kept flowing around the wall until I neared the other exit, bringing some light to the passage. It was clear that what Xlotl had seen was a symbol within the floor – it was the symbol of Death! It was shaped from a flawless single piece of black diamond, some ten feet large – Xlotl found it incredible! Yeah, incredibly dangerous, I thought. Xlotl flicked his tongue over it, sensing power within the flawless gem, and noticed some small points of moving energy within it. Thankfully he was able to retract his head and return to the room – I thought Tingus was going to take him when he stuck his head into the darkness! My light did not penetrate beyond the symbol. I was definitely not keen on going to Death, so we returned to the room where we fought the Saloroc and then back into the corridor beyond that.
The End of the Dua'Rev
We passed the stairs we had entered by earlier, and continued through winding corridors that would have been easy to defend against archer and wielders of dweomer. We came to a room with a light source ahead, which flickered like flames. I was wary, so I walked forward carefully to peek around the corner. Sure enough, there was a small figure of Fire flowing around a Dua'rev corpse that was combusting under him, with two other charred remains nearby. There was also the charred remains of a worm, suggesting it had fed well. The rest of the room was mainly empty, although there was a makeshift armoury against the wall on the right with various weapons arrayed there.
I tried to talk sense with the Fire spirit, using Common Elemental, but it was too hungry to placate. It said that his Lord (Igsol presumably) had created him here and that he must feed! It sounded like he just had no idea how he had come to be here. He flowed towards me and I was nearly enveloped in flames, feeling for the first time the protection of Xlotl’s gift from Aretmus as the flames flowed off me without catching fire. I struck with the Air, disrupting him somewhat, but then Xlotl dumped a mass of Water straight onto him. There was an explosion of steam, which scalded me badly, but the light of the Fire spirit went out. We did try to warn him. A small pool of liquid remained, but there was no longer any Fire.
Xlotl moved forward to inspect the remains of the dead, noticing that there were two more bodies slumped against a closed door at the far left end of the room. I followed, hoping to find something that might dress some of my wounds. The remains of the worm were crumbling to dust, and the nearest bodies had been drained of all sense of life. One was more lightly armoured than the others, and they had a flask that looked like the healing drafts we had seen so far, so I gulped down about half of it and felt somewhat better.
Xlotl investigated a backpack that this Dua'rev had been wearing, although it looked like a strap had been cut and the pack dragged out from under him as if we were not the first to investigate. He did find a shiny steel pick wrapped in a shirt, but it was repulsive to me and clearly of Earth. Still we kept it - if nothing else it could be traded for something more useful.
The other two bodies were of a finely dressed warrior, although his weapons were missing, and a shaman. The shaman had a stone symbol of Earth around his neck, but it had been recently cracked according to Xlotl. I leant the body forward and saw a narrow, waxed bag with a leather folio inside just behind him. Xlotl floated the folio out, catching the papers as they fell loose, and collected it together to keep and study. He also noticed some fine bracers on the warrior; they were polished steel, so I was wary of the influence of Earth, but they were not as repugnant as the pick. They were inlaid with gold, one showing a bow and the other arrows. We wondered whether Antinniera would be able to make use of them, and kept them wrapped for her. Fortune smiled on us again, as I found another healing draft. I finished the first I had found and kept this one, now feeling much better.
The door they had been slumped beside opened easily, revealing a well-appointed sleeping quarters. There were bunks on each side and a writing desk against the far wall with writing materials. The left side of the room was in utter disarray, having been searched thoroughly, and a small chest had been smashed open and emptied on the floor. There was a mahogany stick with a gold band laying in front of it, looking damaged. Two plain gold rings that looked oddly corroded lay not far from that. A golden circlet with a black diamond mounted in front lay next to them. BY contrast, the right side of the room was in perfect order, with a small chest under the writing desk on that side made of dark wood and iron bound. There were two more chests under the bed and a footlocker at its base.
I walked forward, down the centre, and felt a strong revulsion from the right. Perhaps it was protected by Earth? I moved away from it, but warned Xlotl about the protection. When I focused, I could see that the Air was in agony within the right side of the room, which made sense if it was infused with Earth-related power. The desk had drawers in a bureau style, two on each side on left and right. I topped up my writing materials, paper and ink, and Xlotl found a map of the tunnels, although we seemed to have explored farther than those that had drawn it. The chest below the desk had a brass lock, and Xlotl thought it wise to seek out the key if we could.
I managed to fight my sense of revulsion to reach the bed and dragged the chests out to where we could reach them from the better Air. Xlotl found a key, which I then used on the chest below the desk. Although it clicked, we were cautious and Xlotl backed off whilst I moved to one side before opening it. It was a good job we did, because when the lid opened it exploded with crystal needles! Xlotl was largely unhurt, but I was peppered with them. I spent some time picking shards of crystals out of my skin before taking a swig of the healing draft I'd found.
There was a phial inside the chest containing an orange liquid, a small velvet pouch, and a broken glass phial with a puddle of green liquid where the shards had broken it. Inside the pouch was a gold ring with an oblong cut lapis lazuli set crossways upon it. Xlotl realised that the gold was very pure, and the stone very carefully shaped with many flat surfaces to make what looked like a plain shape.
Xlotl inspected and manipulated the wand on the floor, but it crumbled to dust just leaving a pitted gold band behind. All the items seemed to be drained of energy. Only the circlet was in good condition, although the stone it had held was cracked and fell out in pieces when Xlotl shook it. The circlet itself was fine and intricate, despite the loss of the stone, but when Xlotl tried it on he quickly dropped it to the floor. It had the same taint of Earth, so I wrapped it with the pick for others to appraise.
The two other chests were full of gold and silver, more than I had ever seen! I suppose it made sense that creatures of Earth would value such minerals enough to hoard them. I took a little for any trading I might need to so, and Xlotl seemed to take quite a lot - still impressed with the quality of the gold. The footlocker was mostly full of clothes, although I did find a sphere of granite at the bottom. I nudged it into bag with other Earth stuff in case it was valuable or important, and then finally left the Earth-infused area, feeling great relief as the normal Air surrounded me.
With nothing else to do here, we backtracked to the stairs up and returned to the worm pillar room. There was a stone door in the corner we had bypassed before, and we investigated that first. Inside was a room with shelving reaching from floor to ceiling on the right as we entered. The shelves were laden with glass jars that were stoppered with cork. There were so many that there might even have been a hundred of them, and they all contained soil, dirt, and dust. The colours were all different, and all seemed to represent different Earth materials of some kind. There was almost a pattern, if you looked at the colour gradient, although two at the bottom right didn't seem to fit at all.
Neither of us knew what the significant of the Earth was, so we decided just to leave it and return to the cells through the guard post. We found one of Illiana's folk, an Elvrathamat, in the first cell. He was slumped against the wall, although he did stir as I shouted but didn't get up. There was another in the next cell, female this time, but we thought her probably dead. The next cell was empty, and an entrance on the left opened into a torture chamber with various nasty looking implements within it that made for fairly gruesome viewing.
The fourth cell had a closed stable door and some moisture on the floor, as if water had been spilled recently. We could hear movement and breathing from the last cell, which had bars like the first three. There were two dogs within, and they barked at us. They looked quite nasty, and then I noticed that the barred door wasn't locked in any way! One was jumping up at the bars, which caused the door to swing slightly, then the other caught a bar in its mouth and pulled it open! The other dog launched itself at me, but then dropped to the floor with the other one as Xlotl attacked them with his mind. Thankfully I hadn't soiled my robes!
We went back to the stable door, and Xlotl opened the top, seeing the bottom half was mostly filled with water.
Elf thing from first cell calls out to let him out "you bastards". Sarcastically say "great way to get someone to let you out". He says, confused "you are not one of them, who are you?" "Who are you?" Tar'anath. His Queen is Ilyianna, which causes Xlotl to advise leaving him. His Queen is the Queen of Lies - he says the Queen of Truth! Leave him for now.
Something in the water near Xlotl, scaled, once rainbow in colour but now muted. Responds to Xlotl's voice. Wants to get back to the river. I heal it, which helps a little. Scoop it up in waxed bag, leaving items in sack with Xlotl. Heavy, but use air to move quickly upstairs into corner room and empty it out into the water. Already growing in size as it leaps into the water, but keeps growing into massive beast with large tentacles. Thanks of the Lord Vannetherren, I am in your debt.