Journal - Conquering Fire

The Highest Temple

We knew that we would have to face Sostrol next, the last of the Sarn, but also now a Lord of Fire. Sostrol was the strongest of the Sarn, and to fight him in a place of fire would test us dearly. First we had to reach his realm, and Falcor told me of a temple in the highest place to the southeast of the island, where any world could be accessed with the right mastery over elements. We thought that such an approach would be better than trying to force our way through either the humans where the Sarn ascended from, or the frontline of battle between Air and Fire. We also ruled out Kelditch's temple as it was too difficult to reach.

So Falcor used the tapestry and the burning brazier once more to move us across the islands. We arrived in what we knew was the vicinity of the temple he had spoken of, but we could not be that accurate just using the tapestry. As we traveled, though, I sensed that dweomer was used in an attempt to divert our path to another place. Somehow we were both able to resist, though, and arrived in a snowy landscape as expected. We were enveloped in cloud so thick that we could not see very far, so it was impossible to get our bearings. Falcor hadn't realised that our travel had been contested in some way, so I spend a moment warning him that using the tapestry might not be a safe way to travel in the future.

Without any landmarks visible, we made the assumption that the direction of the wind was coming from the forge to the northwest, so we put the wind to our left and walked what we hoped was northeast, trying to get a sense of whether the land was rising. Fifteen minutes later, having not learned much about the landscape, Falcor warned that he had a sense that we might be being watched. We knew that there were guardians here, and expected to be intercepted at some point, but there was also a chance that the dark elves had followed us. We kept going, but scanned our surroundings for any sign of trouble. It was about another fifteen minutes before Falcor caught a glimpse of movement; it was one of the Guardians, he was sure.

A moment later there was a series of roars as the Guardians burst from the snow behind us, but their focus wasn't on us - they were attacking some dark elves that had been moving towards us. There were more Guardians ahead, running towards us, but we forced ourselves to stay calm and wait, and sure enough they were passing by to join the fight and did not mean us harm. Falcor turned to run with them, aiming to help with the fight, and I thought to do the same but paused as a Guardian shaman stepped out of the cloud to appear right next to me. He bowed slightly, saying "my lady" in high Elvra, before turning his attention to the fight. Falcor had conjured some magic missiles, sending them into a long sword wielding elf that he judged to be the greatest threat (the others all had daggers, although we knew what their poison could do).

I asked the shaman if it would be acceptable for me to join the fight, and he protested slightly, saying that it was their duty to defend me. I said that it would entertain me, and so he asked if I wished for them to withdraw completely. I declined, curious to see how they fought, and hurried to join the fight, drawing my swords. Falcor had already engaged in melee, cutting the one he had already hurt down with a single blow. A fireball exploded behind me as I moved forward, washing over me harmlessly but hurting the shaman. He had managed to dive into the snow to mitigate some of the damage, but his back was still charred and smoking slightly. A dark elf was also engulfed, and burst into flames before dropping dead. I changed from moving to join the fight to trying to help one of the Guardians, healing a little of the damage he had suffered.

I moved forward again, as more dark elves were approaching, without realising it I had moved just in time - fire rained down from the murky sky just behind me! Sadlyu the Guardian I had helped was killed by the flames striking the ground, and the shaman was badly burned, left whimpering in pain and unable to act. I engaged a swordsman, landing a couple of good blows, and Falcor summoned a lightning bolt to strike at the mage just on the edge of my vision, catching another swordsman in the bolt as he did so. The force of the bolt rips holes in both of them and they dropped, lifeless. I finished my foe off with another blow, but Falcor was engaged by a dagger-wielding opponent. Falcor's armour deflected the dagger blow, and he struck at the foe twice, causing the elf's legs to buckle with the power of his blow, and leaving him dead.

The group of Guardians that had been behind us initially were falling, and the dark elves turned on us as we closed, one blow scraping off my armour. Falcor was hit, but thankfully the poison didn't seem to affect him. I cut one down with multiple blows as Falcor finished off his opponent, leaving just one. I struck him twice as the Guardian shaman started chanting over one of the fallen, and finished him off as Falcor moved to help another of the fallen. Falcor was able to heal his wounds and draw out the poison so that he fully recovered, and the shaman was equally successful in reviving the warrior he was tending to.

Falcor moved to another fallen Guardian, but they were beyond his help, so instead he spoke with the shaman. He sought guidance on how to reach the temple, and had the shaman confide in him about how detached we "Gods" are - the cheek! We searched the mages body, as we had a tendency to lose them in our usual encounters with the dark elves, and found a couple of spheres we knew were part of their technique to move between worlds. One was a deep fiery red shot through with yellow, and the other green shot through with black marbling that was moving constantly. There was also a dagger that contained dweomer; although the blade was plain, the handle had organic elements woven through it in a strange design. He also carried a couple of potions: one was a sealed glass vial with a viscous, deep green liquid; the other was an unmarked metal flask, stoppered but definitely containing something.

The shaman commented on the red globe, seeing a clear link with Igsol, the Lord of Fire... was this the true lord of the fire realm? Falcor took the dagger, although we didn't know what it might be capable of. The potions we divided; one had some kind of healing properties, and Falcor took that, whilst the other offered protection against fire. That would be particularly useful, we thought, and as the most vulnerable I took that one. Falcor spoke with the Guardian shaman again, but he suddenly snapped his head around and stared intently for at least ten seconds. He said that the temple was under attack! We told him to go, and that we would follow as quickly as we could. Falcor was tossed a potion by the shaman to help with his wounds, but then he loped quickly out of sight. Falcor drank the potion down and his wounds were fully healed in an instant. We set off, following the tracks that the Guardians had left in the snow.

We eventually broke through the cloud tops and could see the temple up ahead of us. There were some huge blue-skinned giants fighting the Guardians at the base of the slope the temple sat upon. We could also see some dark elves on a hill to our left, past an unnatural patch of cloud that clung to the ground. It didn't look like the Guardians could hold the giants for long; the giants were about fifteen feet tall and towered over them! As we moved forwards, a white dragon looped above the cloud, some way to our left, and one of the elves launched a fireball at it. Falcor, on seeing this, transformed into his dragon form, his kit clutched in one claw.

The cloud was definitely not moving with the wind, so we suspected dweomer of some kind. Falcor headed towards it, but climbing to pass over it. As he nearer the hill beyond the cloud, a lightning bolt shot out from the cloud towards him, thankfully ending just a little short as he picked up speed after his climb. Seeing this, I turned towards the cloud, suspecting that it was hiding something, or someone, important. I saw one of the Guardians cut in two by the huge axe of one of the giants - they were seriously outclassed here. Falcor saw the other dragon erupt near another giant, quickly disappearing back into the snow with it, leaving no trace behind. In a moment, though, he reached the dark elves on the hill and breathed fire down onto them. There were a couple of white-winged creatures near them, but they fled in fear before Falcor had even reached them. The damage he caused melted the snow and left the elves badly burned, but it seemed they had all survived somehow. One was definitely cowering in fear, unable to act, though.

I headed into the cloud, but just on the edge of it I suddenly realised that there was a misty flying creature right in front of me. It was quite small, but the beating of its wings seemed to be refreshing the cloud, which explained why it would not disperse. I screeched to a halt, dropping my bow, and drew swords to engage it. The foe had an unnatural control over the elements, it seemed, especially as we associated them with fire and not ice or water. I sliced blades into the creature, and in response it turned its head right round and vomited green shit at me. My eyes and nose were streaming and painful, but I was able to blink away the worst of it and keep my bearings.

On the hill near Falcor, one elf tried to rouse the frightened mage, but without any success, so he drew his bow and yelled something to his companions instead. Falcor wheeled round and then slammed his body into the slope, catching three elves underneath him. One was crushed to death immediately, and the others were pinned and unable to move. I was readying a strike at the misty creature again when fire exploded around me. The creature was vaporized, but the dweomer washed over me harmlessly. The part of the cloud between me and the centre quickly started to disperse, and I could see a wall of four giants in front of a couple of sword-wielding elves that stood back-to-back. I wasn't sure I could win this fight!

I called on my mysterious patron to give me the power to dispel evil, and also flashed a quick image to Falcor of what I had found. I received a response from an unfamiliar mind of being pinned to a rock and molested by giants in a hot, dusty red realm. I retorted that I had already been there and it wasn't to my liking. Falcor took off again, killing another elf with a flick of his tail as he did so, and stretched forward to bite the archer in front of him. The power of his jaws almost killed them outright, and snapped his bow, but he released him and kept climbing. Falcor flew towards the cloud, and me, just as I was surrounded by the four giants. My patron's power protected me as I kept moving forward, making it incredibly hard for the giants to land a blow on me (thankfully). I knew it was of limited duration, though, and was grateful to see Falcor fly low overhead, roaring a challenge.

I ran into the cloud, barrelling past the dark elf swordsmen, and quite by accident found the mage I was looking for right in front of me! I kept up my speed and deliberately charged into him, sending him sprawling to the ground. I staggered to a stop just past where he had fallen and found a massive wall of icy blizzard just next to me. I sensed that this was a transition between places, and suspected the mage had opened it to summon the attacking force. Falcor had wheeled around again by now, and once more breathed fire at the foes below him. Two of the giants were consumed by fire, utterly destroyed by it, and the other two were badly burned. It should have been no surprise, I suppose, that they had a weakness to fire.

I sheathed my swords and reached for Kelditch's staff, thankfully finding that I could instantly dismiss the portal with a thought. The remaining giants let out a great roar as I did so, being cut off from their home. Falcor flew into to the cloud, looking to aid me against the mage, and saw the heads of the giants first. Having a target, he used my own mental image to gauge where the mage would be and lunged his head into the mist. As he got close he could see his target, and bit down on the mage, following up with a claw. I turned and cut into the mage's neck with Aramat, killing him. By this time I had been hit a few times, but the stoneskin dweomer that Falcor had prepared me with before we left protected me from harm.

Falcor clawed at one of the dark elves, and his target seemed to be struck with terror when he realised what he was facing. I engaged in a protracted fight with the other swordsman, eventually managing to best him and cut him down. Others had appeared from the mist, though, so I engaged another in melee. The cloud started to dissipate as we fought, and I took down one elf as Falcor clawed at another until that fell, leaving just one elf and the two singed giants. Finally I felt a pain in my back as a sword slash connected - I could no longer rely on the stoneskin dweomer to protect me. The giants were still finding it impossible to connect, though, which had certainly saved my life.

Falcor's wings buffeted one of the giants, as I finished off the last elf. I knew that hitting a giant would discharge the dweomer that had protected me, but I judged that it didn't have long left anyway so I ducked under its blow and lightly scraped its leg as I moved past it. It was enough - it seemed to scrunch into an impossibly small space and then disappeared with a slight "pop". Now there was only one... except that three more giants were moving up from our flank! Falcor bit the last giant, and it was enough to finish it off; then he grabbed me and took to the air, heading for the temple. A frankly scary amount of giants were converging on the temple, and another unnatural cloud on the far side suggested there might be another mage, and supposedly another portal, as well.

Falcor asked me to reach across to his pack and find some powdered gemstone in a pouch, then throw it over myself as he focused his dweomer - this caused my skin to harden like stone again. He also told me where I could find a tinderbox, ready to make the ash we needed to open a portal to fire. Falcor also called out to the other dragon, saying that we were there to help defend the temple against the attack. There was some doubt in the response he received, although he was at least acknowledged. We flew towards the northern pagoda and Falcor set me down before starting to circle. I set fire to the tinder, letting it burn out completely, and the I lifted it up near (but not within) the pagoda. Falcor landed heavily behind me as he concentrated his mind on the ash, which started to lift and drift towards the centre of the pagoda despite the wind.

As he lowered the ash into the bowl with a grunt of effort, a huge column of fire erupted into the air within the temple with a roar. Falcor warned that he would be picking me up again and heading towards it, but I warned of the magical mist and the creatures that created it. If we were able to deal with at least one of them then it would make life easier, as even my sight could not penetrate the cloud it created. Falcor lifted into the air as we saw giants running as fast as they could away from the temple, sensibly afraid of the elemental nature of the fire within. As Falcor took me in his talons again, I took the Creator's ointment from his satchel, as we needed an essence of life to control and focus the elemental force.

We could not see any of the misty creatures as Falcor flew overhead, so he descended slowly into the cloud until I met the ground beneath him. There was no visibility, as I had expected, but Falcor's descent had been roughly above where the pedestal was within the temple, and looking at my feet I could make out some of the gold lines of the star. Using those as a guide, I found the pedestal and daubed some ointment into it. The column of fire disappeared at once, and instead a neat gate opened very close to me. It still contained the very essence of fire, but there was no heat at all (it reminded me of the radiant cave after the Sarn's influence had been removed).

Falcor was all for going straight through, but I asked what would happen to the temple if we left it like this? Falcor paused to scan the area with his senses, and I took a moment to apply an oil that should offer some protection against fire. From out of the mist, though, some of the dark elf swordsmen rushed me, and Falcor was surrounded by small, ashen flying things. I dodged one blow, but several of their attacks connected and only Falcor's dweomer stopped me from suffering significant injury. Falcor felt an energy drain from one of the creatures as they breathed an ash cloud from their mouths. Falcor didn't hesitate, though, grabbing the two swordsmen and lifting them into the air, climbing above the temple wall and flying away to the southeast - he had sensed a creature in that direction that might be causing the misty vapour. He was right, flying straight into the creature and biting it whilst tossing the elves towards the cliff edge. At least one disappeared and crumpled, dead, in a heap below. The other slipped off the edge, but seemed able to control his descent a little.

I took out the wand of elemental control, but as I reached out with my mind I sensed a connection with another sentient mind... which seemed to be the temple itself! It was powerful, and wished to know if I wanted the target of my wrath (the creature I was about to use the wand against) to be gone... I was surprised, but tentatively answered: "erm... yes"? In an instant the flying creature was gone as if it had never been there. I sensed that the temple was both ancient and powerful, but there was no malice there, it was just... functional. I was distracted by more swordsmen that came running in to engage me, so I drew Aramat to fight. As I took a defensive posture, I noticed lightning sparks along the side of Aramat where the runes were no longer showing, but there was no time to look closer as the foe was on me. I connected well with one attacker, and the stoneskin kept me from harm, but I knew that I would start suffering soon if I could not take them down quickly.

A beam cut through the air from the east end of the temple (it was from outside, but I couldn't see that yet), and I just narrowly dodged it as I moved with the melee. Falcor was suffering badly from the ashen creatures, but at least had the misty thing in his jaws, so he was able to crush it and spit its broken body out. I reached out with my mind again, asking the temple to clear the mist from around me, which it did so in a moment. That revealed some localised columns of steam with vague shapes within them clustered around a pit in the centre of the temple, seemingly engaged in a ritual of some kind. As the mist started to rapidly dissipate in the wind, Falcor spotted the dark elf mage outside the temple. He swiped the creatures following him with his tail, causing them a fair amount of damage and stunning at least one, then he crashed his bulk into the mage in a heavy landing on the snow.

The remaining ash creatures flew off, clearly sensing that they were outmatched, and the cloud no longer prevented us from seeing around the temple. I noticed that the ointment I had added to the pedestal was being used up, as its essence was being consumed to maintain the portal; I had to quickly sheath a sword to dab some more on the pedestal to sustain it for longer. I continued to fight with Aramat, though, and managed to cut down one attacker. I could now see that Falcor was fighting, but I needed to keep the portal open and didn't want to leave the pedestal's side. I flashed him a quick message about what I had discovered in the temple, and he half acknowledged me as he tore into the mage with teeth and claw, leaving him dead, his body in tatters.

I fought with the last swordsman in the temple, trading blows fairly evenly, but Falcor's stoneskin gave me the edge. Suddenly the chanting of the steam creatures stopped, which was ominous, and I sensed a new elemental presence being introduced to the temple - some kind of negative energy near to my father's realm from what it felt like. I quickly spoke with the temple again, asking it to remove the steam things and close this new portal... but it seemed confused as to why I am asking - did I mean to ask a question or give a command? I told the temple to do as I wished instead, and at once it was done.

Falcor grabbed the dead mage, slapped a dark elf swordsman with his tail, and lunged forward to kill the one I had been fighting with his jaws. I sheathed my swords, ready now to enter the portal, but the lone elf ran after Falcor... did he have a death wish? I ran to intercept him, bodily checking his run and sending him staggering backwards. I drew Aramant and slashed it across his body, killing him easily. It was only then I realised he had followed the mage because he had no way of returning without the marbles they used to travel. Falcor grabbed me and squeezed his bulk through the portal, wrapping his wings tightly against his body and around me in the process.

The Home of Fire

All around the area we emerged onto was a fiery hellscape, and endless plain of lava flows and hot rocks. The only thing that served as any kind of landmark was thankfully quite close; an active volcano rose from the plain ahead and to our left, with lower volcanic hills undulating away to its right. The lower slope was only a hundred yards or so in front of us, and we believed that we had arrived at the home of the last Sarn, who styled himself a Lord of Fire. I took a moment to look at Aramat, as it was the first time I had not been in combat, and could make out some of the new runes: ".endroc.in" - hmm... we could work out that the "droc.in" meant "Essence of Gods", but the rest wasn't clear.

As Falcor climbed for height, a slight shimmer appeared between us and the volcano, which looked like the back of a portal of some kind. Falcor flew towards it, setting me down near enough that I could try to close it if needed. I jogged forward to see the "front" of the portal, and through it I could see a green forest, which put me in mind of Borarla, although the nearest trees and the earth just on the other side were scorched with heat. There were a couple of red, snake-like creatures about to step through, but more interestingly they had a column of Elvradhil in chains behind them, perhaps two dozen in all.

They started trudging through the portal, the boots of the Elvradhil smoking slightly on the hot ground, so I backed off out of their eye line and drew my swords. I heard a yell from the other side of the portal, shouting: "keep moving or we burn you and leave the bodies here", emphasised with a crack of a whip. I strode past the column, coming up behind the guards at the front but causing the Elvradhil to shy away from me. I commanded Aramat to flame, but found that I had to wrestle for control of the flames with a powerful intellect that wanted them to be hot instead of cold. Thankfully I was able to force them out, so when I slashed the blade across the guard's body it cooled the hot flesh inside, doing more damage to it. In retaliation it thrust a hot spear at me, which glanced off my armour, and I had to dodge a swipe by its tail as it tried to entwine me. Falcor summoned an ice storm to attack the other guard at the front, causing it to writhe in pain with the impacts even as the ice was melted to nothing very quickly around it.

A whip of pure fire cracked through and above the Elvradhil columns as another yell came from behind, urging them on. I struck again, taking chunks out of my foe. There was a strange sense of heat from the exposed flesh beneath, but I was protected from any burning by the oil I had applied, as if the heat was numbing instead of painful. What was painful, though, was the spears that they stabbed into me, blooming with flame as they struck, and the crushing force as one tail wrapped around my legs. Although two had engaged me, another two guards moved forward and started to drag and haul the Elvradhil through one of the narrow lava floes. Once they realised what was happening, the Elvradhil tried to help each other by using their chains to dangle those crossing above it so their feet weren't burned. I couldn't free myself to help, as I was held by the tail, and decided that it would be best to fight my way out. Another two good blows from Aramat did the trick, cleaving so deep into its upper torso that it collapsed, dead, and the coils went slack around me. I did get lashed by the fire whip, which stung, but again the flames didn't hurt as I'd expect them to.

Falcor conjured icicles that slammed into a fiery bitch that was the one using the whip; she had emerged from the portal behind me so I hadn't seen her until I'd been able to get free. She looked angry after the cold impacts, but I was immediately distracted by the other snake thing constricting me with its tail, and I was pinned again! Falcor let fly with more icicles, and this time she seemed concerned, fleeing towards the lava in an attempt to heal herself in the heat. She had a tail, I could see now, that had been aflame until Falcor's latest strike, which had caused the flames to gutter and die. I reached for the wand of elemental control and used it to convince the one constricting me that I was a friend, so it released me, which I was thankful for. That allowed me to try to free some of the Elvradhil, using dweomer to loosen the chains of about half of them. I tried to communicate with them using my mind, but found most of them to be close like stone; one, though, flashed a warning that using the mind speech would get us killed, and he seemed embarrassed to be using it at all (or was it just because he was talking to me? It wasn't clear).

I closed with whip bitch and a lot happened all at once; Falcor slammed a couple more icicles into her just as Aramat bit deep into her side, and a fireball suddenly exploded around us. The flames were painful, although not quite as devastating as the damage I had seen Falcor inflict, but after my vision cleared I could see that she was lifeless at my feet. The hilt of the, now extinguished, fire whip was on the ground and I grabbed it and tucked it into my belt. Falcor sent two more icicles streaking into another creature across the lava, then swooped to pick up the body of the dark elf mage he had brought with him, dropping it near to the Elvradhil and saying (in their tongue) that it might have a soul stone they need. There was an immediate response that "...they probably do because we made the bastards fucking enough of them!" They shouted instructions between each other, and some of the free ones ran to the body and searched for the stones they could use to travel with.

Some of the other Elvradhil tried to pin a snake thing with their chains as another started to chant something. The last few attacked the guard that Falcor had targeted with icicles. One Elvradhil was stabbed in the struggle and sagged back, near death. Falcor flew forward and conjured a black orb that he threw at the attacker, killing it instantly! I jumped across the lava to fight and ended up constricted by the guard's tail again! I was able to cut it down with several sword blows, though, so I was soon free. Falcor glided over to the body of the whip lady but found nothing on her, and could see that the body was already crumbling to ashes. I tried speaking to the Elvradhil in the Elvra tongue that I knew, but they just turned their back on me. I was just trying to get them to stand together so that I could free the rest of them! One of them called out to Falcor, who flew over to join us. The caller tossed a diamond studded ring and a wand towards him, whilst keeping hold of the stones they had been searching for.

After I asked Falcor to speak to them, we discovered that they spoke Common so I tried that instead. Apparently they hated the Elvra "language of the Gods", which is why they didn't like speaking to me (well, that and the fact that I was apparently "a fucking goddess"). They still didn't seem happy about me doing anything for them, but at least started to shuffle together. I tried to reassure them and then used dweomer to release their chains as I had their companions. One called out and they all started reaching into their clothing, beards, hair, and perhaps other places I didn't want to think about - they each pulled out a tool of some kind, and quickly established that they had what they needed to shape the stones in a way that would enable them to get home.

I asked about Aramat, and they recognised it as the "Godslayer", which confirmed what we had begun to suspect - it was created to destroy a God, probably Treddar. I also asked about the particularly evil sword I was carrying in my pack for fear of it falling into the wrong hands. There was lots of "ohhh... that's a nasty one", and discussion about how it would dominate weak minds, but eventually I surrendered it to the Elvradhil as they seemed unperturbed by it (I think the exact words they used were "I'm not going to let a fucking sword tell me what to do"). They pointed out that all the weapons with soulstones were technically theirs, as they had created them, but they seemed to agree that I could keep Aramat as I intended to use it against Kraldar... although they would prefer that it was used against He Who Seeks Dominance Over All (Treddar).

At around this point, Falcor transformed back into human form, which seemed to surprise the Elvradhil. As I talked about how we were, in some strange way, related through my mother, though, they seemed to realise that "he was the one that fucked humans". They had learned of Ilianna's betrayal of their people (or at least misleading them as to her purposes) and that's why they had been captured and traded to the Lord of Fire. They knew her by another name, though - Arxeler-Veral. They were particularly amused to learn that I had parts of her birth tree with me, and that more than anything else seemed to be enough for them to begrudgingly accept that I "might be alright". The three leaders introduced themselves as Thawn Thawnsson, Engir Thawnsson and Ballsir Grettirdotri, and said that they owed us a blood debt (well, Falcor anyway).

We looked to heal some of our wounds, which were extensive. The Elvradhil offered to show us how to use "real healing" power - and it was astonishing! They tapped into the divine energy of fire, but but ignored any influence the patron might have had on them and shaped the power with their own will. I asked how they did it, and they unhelpfully replied "just show the Gods no fucking respect, ever". They were also able to carve, at Falcor's request, the other soulstone into a twenty-sided shape that we could use to escape if we had to. They told us that if it was broken against rock then it would take us to a "civilised" land. Anything within twenty feet or so would be transported, and quickly. It must be rock that it was broken upon, though, that was very important. After they handed that over, they all gathered around the leaders, and with a chant they smoothly disappeared from view.

We continued on, with no more signs of life in this barren place, and started climbing the first slope along what looked like some sort of path, reaching a slight plateau before two peaks. The path seemed to climb again before veering left up ahead, and the flat section had a red, powdery earth before rocks emerged again on the other side. I got a sudden, although slight, sense of life within the earth as I moved forward, so I stepped back and warned Falcor. He encouraged me to throw a rock onto the soil ahead, but there was no reaction. He tried a grappling hook, dragging it back towards him, and at the last moment we just about saw a linear bulge in the sand just in front of the hook, a few feet across but just a few inches high and not very long. There was something under the soil!

I started to use dweomer to enable Falcor to fly over, but as I was chanting a few obvious disturbances within the sand formed, about fifteen to twenty yards into the plateau and six feet or so across. Three large humanoid figures emerged from the sand within these areas, not fully corporeal and with sand falling all around them as if they were constantly falling apart and reforming themselves. A fourth one emerged as I finished my spell, but they didn't close with us. They seemed almost to be moving, but not as we understand it, rather that bits of them dispersed and reappeared in slightly different places. Despite this they seemed confined to particular areas for the moment.

Falcor asked, simply, "may we pass" in Common. A raspy, sandy voice responded from the nearest in bad Common saying: "Death may walk, but not Air. Stench of Air not welcome. Enemy may not pass". They had been given the task to defend against forces of Air, it seemed, and the dweomer had triggered them. Falcor tried levitating vertically, which caused three of them to get closer, with one right at the edge of the sand, thankfully unable to move farther. Falcor began to move over the sand, at quite some height, but the nearest creature reacted by swirling his arm and shooting a column of sand up towards Falcor, just narrowly missing. Sand was falling everywhere, and for a moment I contemplated where and when I might next be able to bathe, but the the creature caught the sand still in the air within a swirling vortex and whipped it towards Falcor, although he missed again. I spoke in High Elvra, as much to see if they reacted as to actually speak with Falcor: "perhaps we should heed their warning." I did not see any recognition or reaction from the creatures, though.

Falcor started half-running, half-jogging around to the left where the steep slope of the volcano rose beside the sand, trying to get around it. He almost seemed a little winded, but it could have been that he had some sand in his mouth and was trying to get rid of it. It made me itch just thinking about it. One of the sand creatures tracked his movements, staying close, but others disappeared back into the sand as he moved away. I just walked along the path, which was a bit easier to see after the rest of the sand had been disturbed by the creatures. As I neared the other side I met one of the creatures in red that had carried us to Itlak Alna'a - probably her on Ilianna's behalf to barter for power. His flying mount was walking awkwardly behind him, clearly forced to stay on the ground by the guardians here.

He hailed me as I approached, seemingly unaware of my allegiances or history with the dark elves, as the last one had been. He asked if I had been forced to walk as well, and we had a mutual moan about not being able to just fly across. Apparently Igsol, the Lord of Fire, was in a bad mood because some woman killed his favourite. No idea who that might be; ahem. He said he would just make an offering and leave, if he was me, because that's what he had done. He paused after that... and asked: "you did bring an offering, right"? I pointed back at Falcor, who was still headed towards the volcano at this point. He commented that my offering seemed to be getting away! I responded that he didn't know that he was an offering yet, which made him laugh deeply.

I waited for his mount to catch up, and was licked as he passed. Yuck. Apparently she liked dead things. Great. Once they had passed I noticed that he conversed with the guardians in a complex tongue before starting to walk across... perhaps they were native to Itlak Alna'a, and had been a gift? It would make sense. By this time Falcor had started climbing and traversing, watched by a sand creature below him. I slowly climbed higher and saw that the path swung to the left, towards the volcano, after another stretch of sand. It looked like it ended in a concave rock formation, a darkness within suggested there might be an entrance, which made sense. As I drew nearer I could see that there were two massive obsidian doors, about twenty feet high and each ten feet across, closed as far as I could see. There was a slight descent before reaching the doors, and I veered left off the path and secreted myself in the rocks, out of sight of the doors but able to watch over the sand creatures below. I couldn't see Falcor, but thankfully it was only five minutes or so before he came into sight, traversing around a rocky outcrop on the slope.

It took a while for him to reach me, but the time passed without incident and we were reunited again. I moved back towards the doors, but as I moved around the rock I saw a massive bull-like figure walking on two legs and carrying two large swords near the doors. I ducked back quickly and told Falcor what I had seen; we could hear bellowing from around the corner, though... had it seen me? Falcor turned himself invisible and I strode out to talk to the creature, slightly apprehensively. I said that I wanted to talk to Igsol about a trade of power, and had to explain that the offer was from me and not my father. He sensed Air, though (Falcor was still able to fly) and wanted to cleanse me with fire! I wasn't so keen, and decided to leave to "prepare" myself.

We moved into some rocks past the doors, because we could find a spot that was out of sight of the doors and the path that approached them. There we waited until the dweomer wore off, hoping that the "stench" of Air would now be gone. I returned and as we approached the bull creature emerged from the doors once more. It seemed happier that I no longer had a scent of Air, and impressed that I now had a scent of Fire instead, saying I could enter. Falcor was following close behind, so we both entered a long, Basalt corridor with a vaulted ceiling some thirty feet above us. The way was lit by veins of fire within the walls. After about a hundred feet the corridor opened up a little and veered to the right, with a smaller corridor to the left. The bull guardian stepped in behind us and the doors swung shut with a resounding, slightly ominous booming noise.

We left the guardian at its post and walked down the corridor. The right fork was clearly the way we were intended to go, and it became almost a hall with massive columns of basalt supporting an even higher roof in two rows, although that changed to a single row after a corridor to the left about halfway down. The wall at the far end, after this single row of columns, was not lit at all and was just black. There were two-headed giants by the corridor entrances on our left, rough looking in appearance. Another two-headed giant, looking slightly better dressed, stood in the centre of the hall and bowed as I approached. He expected to be given an offering to take to Lord Igsol before an audience could be granted. I politely refused, which didn't go down well, but he at least agreed to convey a message for me; I said that I was willing to offer Ilianna's staff pieces in return for his aid, saying that I sought power to help overthrow my father. I was asked to wait, and leant casually against a pillar.

As I waited, Falcor rather clumsily followed the giant as he walked towards the black wall at the end of the hall. The giant passed straight through, so Falcor followed and emerged into a room on the other side. There was a blazing fire within a suit of armour stood at the front of a raised section of floor, with two women stood behind. One woman was black-clad and white-skinned with literally flaming hair, whilst the other was white-clad and black-skinned; both were apparently human. They were conversing together, but as Falcor walked in the flaming figure looked at him and said: "Lord of Dragons, welcome". Falcor responded with tact and diplomacy... no, actually he just threw an ice ball at them! To be fair, we were expecting to be confronted by a Sarn... things were not as they seemed, though.

The flaming figure moved forward, lines of fire extending into the air like swords from his hands. A fireball exploded around Falcor, but he was able to ignore it. The giant had suffered badly from the ice explosion, looking badly wounded, and struggled to react. A ring of fire appeared around Falcor, radiating heat inwards and trapping him unless he was willing to risk being burned. Meanwhile, I had heard the explosion and decided that I needed to join Falcor quickly. I used dweomer to move instantly past the wall, although I wasn't sure where I would end up or what I was getting into. I appeared and found that there was a giant right next to me, although badly injured, and a couple of very angry women behind me! The armoured fire figure had moved to stand inside the wall of flame, which curved away from me and was quite cool on my side.

I guessed, correctly, that Falcor was inside the ring and the centre of attention, but then the world exploded in ice! The giant was completely ripped to shreds as razor sharp shards of ice tore through him, and there were screams from one of the women behind me. The other one seemed unaffected, and thankfully I realised that it hadn't harmed me either. The fire person stepped into the ring, out of my sight, and engaged Falcor, connecting with one blow that was so searingly hot it burned even Falcor badly. The woman that had ignored the ice finished chanting something and flame leapt from the flaming figure to arc around and fall onto me. For a moment it felt as if my Father was wrapping his arms around me, which was quite horrible, but it did deflect the flames away from me and kept me safe. I moved to engage the woman, and as I moved flames streamed from the sky like rain where I had been. Unfortunately, Falcor appeared in the area just before it happened so he took some damage from it.

I struck the women with two good blows, as Falcor threw another of the black orbs he had used earlier. This time it had no effect, though, and then he was gone again, blinking away and appearing at the far side of the room. The fiery figure emerged from the flames and chased him down, though, striking at him again with the blades of pure fire. The woman I'd been ignoring drew a large sword and cut into me from behind, and I could feel dweomer trying to draw power from me, but I was able to resist it. I hacked at the shaman/cleric, trying to finish her, but she just sank to her knees and kept praying, despite the pain she was obviously feeling. I felt a bit bad about that, so I shouted "why do you serve this creature?" in frustration and turned to face the new threat. She said: "Better him than your father", to which I spat and said: "I do not serve him." She knew how to wind me up, that's for sure, as she responded with: "I felt him save you"; I just said: "It was disgusting", and concentrated on fighting. Icicles slammed into my opponent, I assumed from Falcor, and I struck with Aramat and Ulric's sword and she collapsed, the large sword falling from her hands.

The praying woman tried to call on my power, seemingly seeking help and forgiveness, so I permitted it... but then she tried to use it against me! I rebuffed the attempt and angrily struck out at her. Falcor was blinking all over the place now, having used the ring he had been passed by the Elvradhil, and suddenly appeared in front of a bunch of giants in the corridor outside! He quickly jogged back in, seeing that I had become the focus of the fire figure in his absence. The embodiment of fire struck me with one blade before I could dodge, but spoke with me, demanding that we leave his realm. I tried to get Aramat to flame with cold, but sensed that same will fighting me... but it wasn't here - it was below us! I responded to the figure, acknowledging that he was the true Lord of Fire, and asking why we fought. Surely we should be allied against the foe beneath, Sostrol?

Could we not find a truce, I asked, and he demanded that I sheath the Godslayer first, which I did at once. I was relieved to see that the lines of fire diminished and disappeared in response. Lord Igsol admitted that Sostrol had control of most of his realm, and that he was confined here, and was more willing to speak to us when we said we were here to destroy Sostrol. I shouted to Falcor that we should stop, that we had made a mistake as this was the true Lord of Fire. Falcor seemed ashamed that he had acted hastily, but I tried to reassure him, saying that it was only my sense, through Aramat, of the will below us that warned me that we had been misled.

The woman that was still alive revealed herself to be Elvradrak, but said that she belonged here now having found a new life until the death bringer arrived. Falcor said that she was free to choose her own path, and she assumed the name "Given Power to Choose Her Own Destiny" graciously. The other woman was dead, but Igsol seemed content that her light burned within him now, so there was no need to help her. Falcor knelt now that he knew this was the true Lord of Fire, whilst Igsol incinerated the mage's body, leaving just ash. We talked at some length, but ultimately it was clear that if we could destroy the interloper Sostrol then we would be considered allies for life. He had no quarrel with Air, and the fight was all Sostrol's doing, so we would be helping Aergarnion as well.

There was no time to rest, as there was nothing to stop Sostrol's minions from eventually entering this place, but Igsol did offer to restore some of Falcor's power. In turn, Falcor healed most of my wounds so that I was ready to fight again. We established that Sostrol was misusing Igsol's name (as all knew that Igsol was the Lord of this realm), which explained some aspects of the conversation I had on the way in. He also explained that Aramat had the power to destroy a God if struck true! No wonder none of them liked me being around. More immediately useful, though, was the image that Igsol showed us of the heart of the mountain. We saw a giant lava pool with stone paths leading to a central stone reception area. The throne, though, sat within the lava lake just beyond this platform. Now we had an idea of what we were getting into, and the image gave us a way of getting there.

Igsol made an offer to Falcor; if we could free his realm, then he would gladly open the gates to Karmana to help relight the Forge. Igsol also had his Elvradrak priestess inscribe Sostrol's name upon a blade that Falcor carried, which would help him strike true. I called on Falcor's strength, using dweomer to channel it into my own, and also gave us both the ability to fly. Falcor summoned some mirror images as I protected myself to some extent from fire. We were ready.

Final Confrontation

We used dweomer to instantly arrive in the massive cavern that was the "Heart of Fire", near the throne but above it and flying. There were molten rock fire beasts within the lava below, but they were sluggish and weren't an immediate threat. Fire skeletons stood guard at the far ends of the three paths leading to the central platform, again not an immediate threat. The paths themselves were in a state of disrepair, and completely broken in places. There were two figures stood on the platform: a dark elf and a human dressed in the colours of fire (at least they looked human), and they looked like spellcasters of some kind. Sostrol sat on throne below us, with his feet in the lava. He looked like a creature of death but with streaks of fire within his body. I was aware that it was intensely hot here, but the oil stopped that feeling from becoming painful.

I closed as quickly as I could on Sostrol, but noticed that Falcor was casting, so veered slightly and an ice ball exploded between the throne and platform. The two figures there were hurt, with dark spots appearing on the fire mage, but Sostrol didn't seem to be affected. I tried to ignite Aramat, but I couldn't control the flame, which was orange instead of the normal blue, and when I tried to strike at Sostrol it had no effect! Flame erupted around us all, sheets of it moving around and past us, which did hurt but not as much as it would have done if we hadn't prepared. A column of lava erupted from below Sostrol, lifting him to a height of about a hundred feet, but then started to fall away until he was suspended about fifty feet up. He struck me on the way past, but the dweomer of Falcor's stoneskin protected me from harm. Lightning arced into me from the dark elf, discharging into the lava column, but thankfully it didn't affect me at all. Falcor touched an axe, asking for aid, and summoned a Rock Elemental on the platform to aid us in the fight! Falcor also used dwomer to hasten our movements, allowing us to move and fight twice as quickly.

The newly summoned elemental thumped both the fire mage and the dark elf, which was a welcome distraction. Flames streamed from the ceiling overheard, raining down over us and Sostrol; again the dweomer washed harmlessly over me, and Falcor was saved by his many images, losing half of them to the rain of fire but escaping harm. Falcor responded by pelting icicles at Sostrol, which seemed to anger him. He dropped his column of lava down to Falcor's level and the column glided towards Falcor, taking him into melee range. The dark elf moved instantly across to the edge of room, looking to escape the immediate danger, and a fireball erupted around me. I was burned by the heat, although my dweomer helped to protect me from the worst of it. Sostrol drew a flaming sword and attacked Falcor, but just caused one of his images to wink out.

Another fireball exploded quickly afterwards, but thankfully that one didn't affect me. I had flown towards the mage, unable to wrest control of Aramat back from Sostrol, but just as I arrived the elemental smacked her to the floor, leaving her broken body bleeding out. Fire-headed giants were starting to enter the chamber from its far end, so we needed to act quickly. The dark elf escaped through one of their portals, clearly looking to avoid death, so that was another threat removed. Sostrol spewed fire at Falcor, which was incredibly hot even for him, but the dweomer didn't affect him so he unleashed his unnaturally fast sword attacks in response, doing significant damage. I was finally able to get control of Aramat, its blade turning blue, and moved to help... but by this time Falcor was carving chunks out of Sostrol, trailing flames with each hit as the fire bled out of him. With one last, powerful blow Falcor drained the last of the fire from Sostrol to leave just a shade that immediately disappeared.

In a moment, Igsol appeared on his throne, retaking his rightful place. More worryingly a monstrous horned beast started to emerge from the lake of lava, about twenty feet across and twenty five tall! Igsol spoke to Falcor, saying that he owed him a great debt for forcing Sostrol to flee. He then asked if we wished to follow him, as he could send us, but it would have to be now. Yes! We had to finish him, and go together. At once we appeared in the high temple on the icy mountain again. We were stood by the obelisk inside, and Sostrol was not far away, by the well. We moved forward and Falcor engaged him in melee again, landing blows with incredible speed. I sensed that Sostrol was trying to open a door to a death realm, but was able to forcibly hold it closed. Falcor was a blur, hitting again and again, and it seemed for a moment that we might succeed quickly.

It wasn't to be, though. I was suddenly compelled to attack Falcor from behind, thankfully striking an image instead of his true body. Sostrol struck at him as well, and connected this time. I strike once more, against my will, removing his last protective image. Falcor responded by creating more images, worried about being assailed from both sides. Worse, though, was that Sostrol had now opened the portal he wanted, and skeletons started to climb out of well to aid him, as I was unable to direct my will to stop him. The sight of them made me shake myself out of his control, though, and I quickly slammed the portal shut. He turned and looked at me... and I just dropped dead!

Falcor saw this and screamed both "Milada" and my name as he unleashed his anger on Sostrol, taking him apart with strike after strike until his head rolled off and his helm fell aside, the rest collapsing into a pile of bones. He had no time to react, though, as one of the now familiar two-headed death giants climbed out of the pit... my father had sent it for me! It grabbed my body and slung me over its shoulder as the skeletons attacked Falcor. Falcor sent a bolt of radiant energy at my captor, slamming into it and throwing it backwards to land on the ground, forcing it to drop me. Falcor heard me exhale as I hit the ground, which gave him hope that I wasn't quite as dead as I appeared. He attacked a skeleton, destroying it, and then the other, doing damage, but disengaging and forcing his way towards the giant. When he got there, though, he found that his blade just passed straight through without impact!

Falcor summoned and threw an orb at the giant instead, but with no effect. The giant lunged at Falcor to grab him, but he was able to step aside. The skeleton attacked Falcor from behind, but his armour kept him from harm. The giant was the real threat, and it slammed Falcor to the ground, stunning him. For a moment the giant paused, but then moved away again to pick up my body. It headed towards the well again, but Falcor regained enough of his senses to transform into his Elvradrak form, using his size and strength to grab my body and rip me from the giant's grasp. Falcor then took Sostrol in his mouth, grabbed the sword and helmet from the ground, and took off. He didn't look back, and just kept flying until he reached the coastline to the west. He landed to rest before transforming again to fly the rest of the way to the island with his temple on it.

His first concern, at least so he told me, was to see if I could be saved. The priest had good news: although it would take a day before my body recovered enough to accept healing, from there I was able to make a rapid recovery aided by the priest's prayers and Falcor's powers. In the meantime Falcor had studied Sostrol's sword, which was engraved with "HERAST RES HIGN" (Divine Strength Through Fire), and had fought with the will of the sword to dominate it.