Editing Efferendil (section)

==New Insights==

There was a figure on the corner. It was humanoid, but had a frog-like face and carried a staff that had glowing blue points set on and around the top (it was hard to see what they might be from a distance). It also seemed to be wearing the skin of a lizardman, although whether this was as a mark of strength, a sign of holding a certain office, or just for protection wasn't clear. Tak called out a greeting in Common, which the creature reacted to - but not aggressively. It spoke, but none of us understood what it said. Tak tried speaking in his different tongue again, and again this seemed only to anger it! It disappeared around the corner and a few moments later reappeared with some larger, toad-like warriors with it. They still looked annoyed!

I tried to intercede, placing my weapon on the floor and gesticulating to try and calm them down, and Silanna joined in. They still looked threatening, but did slow down a little, staring at me. Then Tak started croaking like a frog at them, holding out his hands and letting water drip from them onto the floor. The largest of the toad warriors croaked back at him, and this went on for a bit. At least they had stopped advancing, though. The frog thing we had seen originally joined in the 'discussion', and moved forward looking curious. I was intrigued by the blue balls he held in his staff - they seemed to be fluid, moving as the staff moved but then settling into spheres when he stopped.

Tak eventually related what they had been discussion. We were right that the flow of water had stopped, and instead there was solid brightbane. Tak had explained that our quest was to restore the flow of water, which had pleased them and they had offered help. The balls that the frog held were "bubbly water" that allowed them to breathe underwater for prolonged periods, and Silanna and I were gifted a ball each to help if we were submerged. I retrieved my staff as the creatures offered to show us where the brightbane wa, and we followed a toad warrior back down the passage to the junction we had left. When we arrived, the frog stepped into the first circle and started chanting as he rotated his staff over the inner circle, started at the 10 o'clock position and stopping at the 7 o'clock position. Each point of the star glowed slightly as he passed over it, and a blue sphere floated down to the last point; as it touched the star the eye symbol in the ceiling rotated by 180 degrees.

We asked about the other creatures, as their bodies were still strewn across the cavern, and the frog told us they were "nasty" things that were not friends; he called them "Slaadi". As he stepped into the side passage, the frog chanted again and an eye on pyramid symbol appeared in brightbane in the ceiling just ahead, pointing in the other direction. He told us, through Tak, that to reach the brightbane you "just" needed to push the eye in the centre. Tak spoke about some of the bad experiences we'd had with them in the past, but he seemed to think that it was because they were "gold" - radiant - bad symbols, and that the silver ones were better. Climbing would be an issue, though - I tried the wall and it was too smooth and slippery from the previous water flow for me to get anywhere.

We started debating what was actually happening here - if the brightbane was not flowing then neither was time, so those that were "trapped in stone", as Tak put it, were also trapped in time. Who was cutting off the flow, and for what purpose? Was this Orodruin's attempt to stop the Ragnarak cycle? By containing the divine essence it would limit the influence and power of those that would fight for extremes - a world without Gods. Was this an attempt to try something different, to create a world that could stay in balance? Intriguing. We asked if we could rest and think on what we had seen, and were welcomed into their living area. The food wasn't up to much - actually I think it was basically dead flies. Tak seemed to enjoy sharing it, but I decided to stick to my own provisions. They did at least have fresh water!

Once we had rested we decided that we needed to try to find the source of the water, and that meant following the narrow passage behind the junction. The first part was steep, but it did ease off after that, so we should be able to make our own way up. We returned to the junction and Tak scaled the steep part before securing a rope with metal spikes. It was hard going apparently, but the rope would allow us to pull ourselves up as it wasn't too high. There was a little water still flowing, although not much, and it was very fresh according to Tak. Once we were all at the top, Tak pointed out that there was a little unnatural light up ahead, so I put my torch away to avoid alerting any foes.

The passage rose gently and narrowed, and the air felt fresher and cooler. It looked like it was a lot of large rocks piled up that had caused the blockage, although a little water still managed to flow from behind them. Tak retrieved the rope and pitons and re-secured them higher up in case we needed to hang on if water started to flow. I moved up to the narrowest point, finding that the natural rock ended there and instead became a carved marble, clean passage that opened into a larger space farther ahead. The rocks behind me had been damp with green growth on them, but this passage looked untouched by water... that or kept clean once the water stopped flowing.

With fresh water coming from behind the rocks, it suggested that this was a physical blockage we might be able to clear. Tak knocked a rock free with the hammer he had used to secure the rope, starting a small cascade that stopped after a while - it was useful, though, as the rocks came from above us. The water must have flowed down to this point before it was blocked. We squeezed together at the narrow point, which was the top of the slope, and Tak punched the nearest large rock with incredible force. It fractured and then split and collapsed as the weight of rocks forced it out. A new cascade started, slowly at first but then suddenly quite rapid. The rocks spilled into the passage, trapping Tak and Silanna, but then it jammed up again. Probably a good thing, as the two of them were just stuck rather than crushed!

Unfortunately at that point I was aware of a noise from up ahead, and turned to see a massive crab waving a nasty-looking claw at me! I lashed out with my mind, and the crab dropped dead instantly... but it wasn't the only one, as I could hear another approaching. Silanna was wriggling forwards slowly, managing to free one shoulder. She was moving the rocks with some effort, but I noticed that none of them fell into the corridor at all - there was some kind of dweomer barrier that prevented them filling the space. I couldn't reach Silanna's shoulder with any kind of leverage to help, so I infused my weapon with the power of thunder and turned to face the second crab as it approached. I just had time to see Silanna free her head, and noticed that her hair was fanned out behind her as if weightless, which might explain why she hadn't been crushed by the rocks completely.

I moved up to engage the crab, giving her space to pull herself out, but was almost caught by its large pincer, only wriggling free at the last moment to avoid being crushed further. It attacked again, and again I just managed to squeeze out before being crushed. Silanna was half out of the rocks at this point, and Tak was slowly moving up behind her. I smacked the crab as hard as I could, but it wasn't enough to break its shell, and this time when I lashed out with my mind it had no effect. Silanna finally managed to free herself, using her arms to pull her lower body out, and this left a bit of a void that Tak was able to move into behind her before the rocks filled it.

Silanna moved up to my side, ready to fight, and allowing Tak to move free of the rocks. Tak grabbed the torch I had dropped whilst fighting and moved right past us - he seemed focused beyond us, and warned us of something large up ahead. There was a large mud-floored cave beyond the marble passage we were in, and flames from a metal torch on the far side allowed us to see what looked like a cut rock wall. That wall stood out as the rest of the space had natural, uncut rock around it. There was a small fissure on the far side as well, a little way from the cut rock, that was only a couple of feet across.

Dealing with the more immediate problem, I finally managed to land a blow that cracked the crab's shell, which killed it, and we were free to move forward to examine the cavern ahead of us properly. We didn't want to enter the mud, as we didn't know how deep it was and there were likely to be more crabs hidden within it. There were no obvious exits near the torch, but it was unlikely that it was there for no reason so that was the most promising direction to investigate. After a couple of minutes, and watched by Tak the whole time, a shambling mud monster appeared at the edge of the torchlight. It looked as if mud had taken form and moved, slowly but steadily advancing on us, and as it approached it seemed to draw on the mud to get larger. More strangely, it seemed to be shaping itself into a larger form of Tak, the likeness improving as it got closer. I shouted a friendly greeting, at which point it seemed to shift to look like me, but as I backed off it returned its attention to Tak and changed accordingly.

Silanna suggested that we back away from the mud, as it might not be able to sustain itself on the rock, which seemed like a good idea. We did notice that some crabs scuttled away from it as it moved through the mud, so we were right to be wary of entering. When it reached the edge of the mud it stopped, stooped slightly, and held its arms out in front of it, palms facing up. Was it offering to take us somewhere? It seemed to be following rules, at least, not instinct. I took a chance and stepped onto one of its over-sized hands. It looked at me strangely, but then stood up and, turning, carried me all the way over to where the torch was. I stepped onto the surface of the mud there, nervously, and tested the depth with my staff. Thankfully, it was only inches deep so I allowed myself to sink into it and called over to the others to say that it seemed safe.

Tak called out, asking the creature for a lift, and it responded to his voice and began lumbering slowly back towards him. I studied the torch while I waited; it was too high for me to grasp, but I could see that it was ornately carved like a serpent creature with a humanoid-like upper body. Upon its head was a cage structure where the flames emerged from. The rest of the wall appeared unremarkable, and eventually the others arrived, carried as I had been by the mud creature. Once it had delivered them, it returned to the fissure in the wall opposite where we had entered... perhaps that was its home?

Tak remarked that the flame was clearly not natural, and was likely brought by the Slaad, so he suggested that we should extinguish it. We agreed, but touching the last serpent torch had resulted in it coming alive, so we all moved back, staying close to the cut rock wall. Tak then raised his hand with the ring upon it, and used it to somehow snuff the flame out from afar. The moment he did that, the wall disappeared to reveal a couple of rooms that had been hidden behind it. They were both formed out of cut stone, but the one to our right was partially collapsed and rubble had fallen into it from where a wall might once have been. The room to our left had an entrance that was open, although we could see the square shape of the room through it, and there was a door on the far side. More immediately of concern, though, was the flaming snake in the middle of that room! It was as if the snake was made of fire itself, forming out of thin air and growing before our eyes.

I tried firing flechettes at it, but even the dweomer-infused projectiles just swerved around it ineffectually. Silanna loosed an arrow at it, but that went straight without any effect as well. Tak quickly moved past the entrance to reach the other room, seeing a chest in one corner and a partially crushed body with a Norse horn beside it where the wall had collapsed. Suddenly a jet of fire erupted from the snake towards us! Thankfully, both Silanna and I were able to throw ourselves to the sides and the walls protected us. The flames flared brightly into the cavern, and a quick peek confirmed that the snake was still growing - it must have been at least fifteen feet long at that point. I shouted to Tak, who had seen the flames, and he ran to the chest to see if there was anything helpful within.

Tak flicked the chest open with a blade, standing to one side, and revealed a couple of large hessian sacks within. Taking his blade to them, he could see that there were coins within, but also some other items that he couldn't see clearly without emptying the sacks. Silanna used dweomer to protect herself from evil, then sprinted across the entrance to join me on the right, nearest Tak. The snake snapped at her, but the dweomer worked and it recoiled just as it was about to bite into her. I healed myself quickly, expecting to be attacked next, but Silanna took out a different arrow and loosed it straight at the snake - the moment it struck the snake disappeared completely, the difference in light stark in what was now nearly darkness by comparison.

I called through to Tak that we were safe, so he took more care in inspecting what he had found in the chest. There were three potions, two of which Silanna took, and I took a metal corked flask with a silvery liquid within (this was like another one I had), plenty of coins, some jewelry (Silanna took some earrings, and a gem - I had the other gem, which was black), a foot long piece of ivory carved into the shape of a slender single flame (I carried that), an Elven style short sword that Silanna took, two scroll cases (I had a battered leather one; the other was bone), some boots that I tried on and found that they changed size to fit me. The body had a number of items as well. Its armour was broken, sadly, and in fact it looked like they had been sliced nearly in two, which had separated the lower part of the armour. When I tried it on it changed size to fit me, but the detached part hung below it and made it completely unwearable. Instead I set to work detaching the brightbane neck section, which seemed to infuse the rest of it, and wore it loosely around my neck - I would have to work it into my own armour when I had the chance to see what it might do. The person had been a large human from what remains were left, much larger than we were used to, but with time being different here there was no saying whether they had been one of Farion's scouts or from another time completely. The helmet was half-visored and nicely made in an Elven style, so Silanna took that. She took the parts of a longsword that had been broken when the person had been cut into, leaving two parts, in the hope that it might be remade. Silanna also took the horn and some large gold bracers.

All that I had noted (apart from the coins), Silanna determined were infused with dweomer so were worth taking, although we did not know what their properties were. The scrolls in the bone case were illegible (a Shaman might know them, I guess) - and the case had the head of an Egyptian God with a duck on its head faintly carved into it. Silanna took the case, although none of us could make use of it, in case we could trade it or find a use later. The leather case I had taken, as I didn't have a case, but we shared the scrolls between the two of us. Silanna took the Fireball and Lightning Bolt, and I took Haste and summon Water Elemental.

While Silanna and I were sorting through the treasure we'd found, Tak took the time to carefully bury the body under the loose rock. The pattern of rockfall was odd - it looked like the rock had been sliced into with massive gouges and fallen, which would tally with the body being almost sliced in half rather than crushed to death. I had a sudden thought - the image of the serpent creature that had been the torch on the wall had been holding a curved blade. Could it have come to life and grown like the last one, and gone on to do this? Tak didn't want to hang around to find out, anyway. He was interested to know whether there might be a mechanism to control the flow of water somewhere in these rooms, though, and suggested moving to the other room to investigate.

As I walked back around I noticed that the new boots felt really comfortable and light, but then we focused on the other room. It was dusty on floor... well dust mixed with ash actually, perhaps linked to the fire snake that had been here. Tak dragged his foot across the entrance but couldn't find any mechanisms or carvings. We could see a stone door on the far side of the room that was open, although we couldn't see through the opening from where we were. It was warm and dry, and there was some kind of light source beyond the door that gave off a pale bronze light. We entered and started looking at the walls, until I heard a clunk as I passed the halfway point and a chute opened below me. I dropped with the floor and started sliding towards the wall, and Silanna started sliding backwards towards me as well, having gone around the other side of the room.

Tak ran in and slid on his belly towards me, trying to grab my arms before I disappeared, but was a moment too late. Silanna bumped into me and we both disappeared under the wall. I was using my mind to stop us accelerating, but we were still moving, and disconcertingly there didn't seem to be any walls or ceiling around us now that we could use for purchase. I twisted and grabbed Silanna, then tried to run back up the slope. Silanna was too heavy for me to shift, though, so she drank some of a potion she fished out, shrinking to half her size. Now I had a chance, and I willed my new boots to lend me whatever aid they could. Suddenly I was going REALLY fast! I don't think I'd ever traveled this fast, let alone up a slope. I shot back up towards Tak, calling up to him as he shouted to see if we were still alive.

I rushed past him and almost ran into the wall, managing to stop and step to the side of the slope with a grin of exhilaration on my face. Tak had seen into the passage beyond the door, saying that it looked beautiful with green, blue, and purple colours within it (were those our colours?), although when Silanna and I looked it was just the bronze light we saw, with darkness beyond. I stepped into the corridor, turning to see what was giving off the light, and seeing the familiar pyramid and eye symbol, although it was upside down. Silanna moved up slowly behind me, and I realised that I was finding it really hard to move slowly now that my boots had the taste of movement - I felt them urging me on if I slowed down at all. Tak mentioned that the purple light of my torch tended to make the walls appear more red than the colours he had seen before, although only he could discern the change.

I was the first to reach a left turn in the passage, with a glow beyond it. When I looked around I could see a pool of lava that ended in a stone door that glowed with heat at the bottom. More urgently, though, there was a walking lava shark staring back at me! It was at least eight foot tall and quickly closed with me, grabbing at me and trying to eat me! It caused a lot of pain, but at least I wasn't swallowed whole! Silanna ran to join me, but couldn't manage to hurt it, and Tak moved up behind us. I stuck my staff into it, which seemed to do some damage, but that didn't slow it down. Thankfully, I managed to dodge the next attack as Tak joined the melee. Silanna cut into its side as Tak slammed a blade into it, and I stabbed up into its gut again and it finally fell. Phew, that was unpleasant!

The body melted before us, enlarging the pool of lava somewhat, and it spat and bubbled angrily as Tak splashed water on me whilst chanting to heal some of my wounds. We couldn't see a safe way to cross over the lava, so we searched the walls we had passed in the dark of the passage behind us instead. Tak found a hidden iron handle recessed into the wall near the door we entered, which looked like a simple lever that could be pulled. Tak couldn't find any trap mechanism, so he pulled it and we watched as the eye symbol reversed its orientation. When Tak pulled it again, though, the bronze light turned silver as the colour of the symbol changed.

Uncertain of what might have changed, we went back to the lava pool. Silanna, thankfully, had a potion that could grant one of us flight, so Tak drank it. He flew well above the lava, noticing that it flowed from right to left under the walls of the passage, and managed to reach the door despite the heat. He took a minute to inspect the door and its surrounds, but found nothing out of place. A ring set into the door was the only visible way of opening it, so he carefully used the shaft of an arrow to lift the handle and then twist it anticlockwise. Once that was done, he pushed on the door with his foot and found that it opened easily. Beyond the door was revealed a large pool of water in a ten-sided room that had three other doors set in the walls, all evenly spaced. The door had no threshold, seeming to be unnaturally thin, but at least we had found water!

Tak came back for Silanna and carried her over as well, which took some time, so I stripped off my armour and backpack. He dropped her in the water (I guess she can swim, but not everyone loves being in the water as much as Tak) and then headed back for me. Once he had carried me across and dropped me off (I used my mind to stay on the surface of the water rather than get wet), he went back for the heavy kit. I looked around as he did so, as there was some light here - it was almost like a moonlit night but there was no obvious source. Unsurprisingly, when Tak had handed me my kit he dived into the water, but surprisingly shot straight out again! He warned that he had sensed a creature in the water that could be a threat to us, and he lifted Silanna up above the surface. The water was dark, so we would have no warning if something did come for us.

We headed towards the first door on our right, and the door behind us swung shut as we moved away. The light above us looked almost like it was suspended... was it water suspended in time? It was like a mist or fog now we looked closer. Was this the blocked water source? When we reached the door we could see that there was a symbol of a God upon it, and it was as if the light from above was shining on the symbol, as it was silvery on the dark stone background. We were worried, though, that this God did not match the symbols we had seen so far, and recalling the alignment of the different Gods we had seen it was clear than none of the other doors aligned with what we expected. We didn't want to end up in a different time, so a lot of discussion about how to progress ensued. The door had no handle anyway, so it wasn't clear we could use it if we wanted to. We would rather go up, towards what might be a source of water... but how?

Eventually we had to settle on trying a potion without knowing what it might do! Choosing one of the lighter, blue potions, I drank it down. It was a relief to find that it made me able to levitate, so I would be able to rise up as Tak carried Silanna. I held on to him anyway, because we didn't want to get separated, and we rose together. We flew through a thick fog for about half an hour, but then started to get a sense that we were accelerating upwards, and then that gravity seemed to have reversed! We quickly re-orientated ourselves and started to slow as we now descended towards whatever might await us. We emerged from a bright hole into sky, but not like we had seen before. Rocks floated in the sky around us, some distance away, lit by the light of at least one sun that we couldn't pick out. The rocks were shot through with brightbane, and we could see what looked like a structure atop one that was maybe a mile away. The structure was low and squat, but we headed for it quickly, knowing that our ability to fly wouldn't last forever.