Editing Efferendil (section)

==Another World==

As we flew closer we realised that the rock was vast, about a half mile across and six or seven times more in depth. It was a strange, smooth, black rock that seemed alien when we landed on it, although it undulated gently. The sense was that it had probably come from another place, somewhere hot most likely. The structure we had seen was not of the same rock, though, just looking like a block of stone construction some seventy yards square but only twenty-five feet high. As we walked towards the structure we noticed a flying creature some distance away gliding towards us, humanoid but birdlike (it seemed that half-folk were common even here). It seemed like it might be heading towards the structure, so we just kept walking, and we noticed that it had stopped and was hovering near to, but not over, the structure.

As we approached more closely we could see that it was moving slightly in the air, as if within a current, although we could feel no wind near us. It called out, much like a bird, and Tak seemed to recognise the cry as a call to see something interesting. We heard an answering call away to our left and just behind us. A moment later we heard what sounded like an alarm call from the other direction, and both the closest creature and the one that had responded flew away really quickly. The building started to vibrate all over, and then the top lifted straight up and hot water burst out, turning into mist really quickly. The mist flowed around us and away down the sides of the rock, obscuring all our vision. Water was being used by fire here, it seemed, and was constrained by earth within the air. There was an acrid smell like brimstone within the mist, which was slightly unpleasant. Then the stone lid fell back into place, there was a whistling sound, and then it stopped and our vision quickly cleared. We noticed at that point that a wind we hadn't felt seemed to pick up the vapour in the air and it twirled up towards the portal we had entered through.

We circled around the structure, but could find no obvious differences other than that the whole construction was slightly oblong. After we completed the circuit we saw that five of the flying creatures were approaching quickly, all armed. We waited placidly for them to arrive, careful to show no signs of being a threat. One landed and squawked at us, and Tak squawked back. He told us that he thought they were welcoming us, and even Silanna seemed to understand what was going on, saying that they had indeed said "hail and well met, you are most welcome". When did everyone start talking like animals? I missed that part of my childhood!

Tak asked about the water, obviously, and they confirmed that the water was trapped, and warned that we must not get too close. Tak explained that we wanted to free the water, which they thought sounded dangerous. They also spoke of a "he" that they didn't think would allow us to do so. When Silanna asked about this "he", they were not sure what we would call them - his name sounded like a wail but wasn't translatable. He was the evil that held sway here, apparently. They described the evil creature as part serpent, part bird, part darker creature, and said that they were the ruler of this place. They also, surprisingly, said that there were Gnomes here, working for the evil (clearly not Ironcloaks). They did not know of any way in to reach the water other than through the structure before us, and had apparently seen gnomes come and go just before the steam was released.

We had to wait, watching for a pattern of when the steam release happened, so Silanna started to purify some of the items that we had found that were infused with dweomer. I just tried to get some sleep, as Tak was meditating again and assured us he could warn of any danger. I did help to heal some of their wounds before I settled down. Tak noted that there was a release of steam from the nearby rocks at least every hour, and that there were many similar rocks, although of different sizes, but also that the one we were on did not release again in the time we rested. It was clear that there was a lot of water trapped in this place, though. He also saw a lot of flying creatures, but they did not seem particularly interested in our rock. This was fortunate, as some of them were quite large by the way he described them! On the positive side, we were at least uninterrupted and manged to rest quite well. Silanna determined that we had a phial of oil that would protect us from the steam, so that would be invaluable. There was also a horn of blasting that we might be able to weaken the structure with, perhaps letting the pressure work for us to create an opening.