Efferendil

Leaving Fontainver (Again)

We were ushered into a small room within a monastery, and met with a man dressed only in a plain brown robe. Tak fell to his knees in front of him, so I took a knee as well, but Silanna stood and watched. People were bringing in food and water around us, but the man was focused on Tak, sitting with him and asking which path he had followed. Tak spoke of our journey, which took some time, and Tak's master seemed particularly interested in the monk that looked after the tomb of Hintzu in the mountains, that Tak trained under. He also noted that we would free the water from the dam on the Cloof, and issued some instructions to ensure people were safe when the waters reached Fontainver, leaving us to eat as he did so. The real surprise, though, was that it appeared Tak had made many journeys on his quest, but had always come back to Fontainver. This time was different because I had gone with him, and he had got further than before. The master explained that when Brightbane didn't flow, neither did time, so the flow of time across the world was sporadic, unpredictable, and could even go backwards if the Brightbane flowed in the wrong direction.

We spent some time training and resting before restarting our journey. The waters of the Cloof did indeed return, so we were both resting at Fontainver and destroying the dam at the same time. The farmers were happy, at least, because they were able to expand a little and use the soil closer to the fortress. We also learned that Tak and Silanna had lost some of their memories from when they were younger, possibly because they had traveled through time many times. It sounded like we should avoid doing so too much if we wanted to keep our sense of identity!

Once we believed we were ready, we set off at first light towards the Efferendil (again). It was a couple of days before we reached the forest, and on the second day Silanna saw smoke from the trees up ahead. As soon as she saw the forest was in danger, she urged us to hurry, and I let her carry me for the sake of getting there faster. We could definitely see humanoids moving within the trees as we got closer, seemingly moving away from us... scouts keeping an eye on us, perhaps? We ran straight into the treeline, but it wasn't long before we encountered a Drow ambush. Tak was hit by an arrow, as figures emerged from behind trees ahead and to one side. Silanna was stabbed, so she dropped me and drew swords to fight, cutting a gash into one of them. Tak joined the melee, striking one, and I finished them off but was stabbed from behind. I turned and slashed my attacker, as Silanna's cloak to deflect an arrow. Tak sprinted off to engage the archer, ending up in melee with two foes. Silanna was stabbed again, and I finished off my attacker so that I could move to help her. She didn't need it, though, as she cut down the foe despite bleeding from multiple wounds. Tak knocked one foe out with a punch, abandoning his weapons temporarily. We were unopposed now, so I launched flechettes into the last foe, which struck true, and then Silanna was able to reach Tak's side and strike down the last Drow.

Tak was concerned about the state of their weapons, which did smell a bit funny, so he applied a healing ointment to all of us to draw out any poison. We conducted a quick search, but there was not much of interest on the bodies, so we hurried on towards the fire. It was about thirty minutes at best pace before we reached an area that was charred and still smoldering, with flames visible in the trees ahead of us. It absolutely stank of smoke all around, and it was obviously a large fire. I was more worried about the spiders up ahead, though! They were huge, and looked very hot - their spines glowing in the smoke... did they start the fire? I prepared for combat by cooling my weapon until it was ice cold.

The spiders rushed right at us, trying to bite with their mandibles; they were red hot as well, but we managed to fend off their initial attack. It felt like forever as we dodged and blocked, unable to get close enough to land a blow whilst keeping ourselves safe, but Silanna eventually skidded underneath one and opened it up with her swords, and I skewered another with my chilled weapon - both died and their bodies combusted, but Silanna was bitten on the shoulder and caught fire! Tak managed to find a weak spot and finish off his opponent as Silanna rolled on the ground to put the fire out. Bits of her equipment were falling off, though, so we had to spend a minute gathering some of the bits that had fallen (mostly arrows).

We headed south towards the river to skirt around the fire, then continued on and reached the edge of the glade with the massive tree just as the gloom of evening was upon us. The forest was quite dense here, but Silanna was relieved that there wasn't any sign of fire in the vicinity. We kept going as it grew increasingly dark and saw the central clearing up ahead. There were orcs there, though - they seemed to have just arrived, coming from the river along a stream that now ran into a central pool. One shouted something rude and they started charging to attack us. Silanna carried me forward then set me down to loose arrows, killing one of them. I engaged the front line as Silanna kills another from behind me, although I was surrounded and took some heavy blows. I trusted the others to take advantage of the situation, though, and a moment later they all collapsed to the ground asleep! Silanna had used dweomer on them, but warned that it was only temporary. The remaining orcs turned and ran, so we focused on disarming the sleeping ones, and Silanna screamed at them whilst waving her swords threateningly when they woke, 'encouraging' them to leave.

Tak took a moment to commune with the water, so I touched the rock that the pool was formed from and remembered my ancestors. Silanna explored the tree, but there was nothing different about it since the last time she was here alone - none of the images she had seem moving in her vision some days ago were visible. I asked Tak if he would mind helping with my wounds, which he gladly did, although he splashed water all over my head as he did so (can't be too ungrateful though). We started to drag the bodies and weapons out of the glade, wanting to 'purify' it for Silanna to commune with, and then as it got too dark to do even that we rested. Silanna stayed inside the tree, and I rested in the roots outside with Tak watching. Night passed fairly uneventfully, but Tak did see forest animals come to drink. He apparently spoke to them, which was new, although they were just excited about the return of water to the forest, drinking from the pool. He did learn that the fires had gone out; it seemed the spiders we killed were the source and once they were gone the fire didn't spread that far. Also, the orcs had made camps on the south bank of the river, having arrived in ships, presumably from upriver.

Restoring the Glade

The rest of us were stirring by this point, and Tak asked us to stay calm and not scare off the animals. Something else was about, to, though, as their ears pricked up and they sprinted away. They warned Tak that there were "things" approaching. We carried on the task of clearing weapons and sweeping the glade for any other impurities, but again received a warning of intruders coming - apparently the birds had spoken to Tak about it! We readied ourselves for a fight, and didn't have to wait long.

A small horde of orcs and larger (some ten feet tall) ugly creatures approached from the south, on both sides of the stream that flowed there. There was also what looked like a demon flying above the trees from the west. Tak and I both shouted warnings, and I loosed a bolt, striking the nearest orc. Silanna followed up from behind me, finishing it off, and then put down another one with a second arrow. Tak also targeted the orcs, killing three in quick order! Tak was on the other side of the pool from me, and he dived into the water to swam rapidly across, leaping out to join me. We continued to target the orcs, and their courage quickly failed - they turned and ran. That meant we could focus on the other flank for now.

Streaks of light shot from the demon into Silanna, and she staggered in pain. Tak raised his hand and shouted "Power" in Gnomish, pointing at the demon, and there was an intensely bright flash in the sky. When the light faded there was nothing left; the demon was gone! We engaged the giant creatures next, but struggled to hit them with our first volley. Silanna started to move towards their side of the pool, and Tak shouted at her to get back, wanted to use our ranged advantage for as long as possible. I fired flechettes into one of the giants, and Tak hit the same target with arrows, eventually putting it down. There were plenty more advancing, though.

One of the creatures started to tip rocks into the stream from a large bag on their back; it seemed that they were trying to dam the flow of water. Silanna and I kept up our bow fire, killing one more, but Silanna had moved around to the large tree and was charged down by one of the giants despite putting an arrow into it at close range. Tak struck a couple more with arrows, and I managed to send one to sleep, but it wasn't enough to stop them from bridging the stream and closing with us. Silanna did manage to kill the one that had engaged her in melee, though. As they closed on me, Tak turned and sprinted away, leaping into the water again! I managed to dodge a spear that one thrust at me, and my own blow struck true, but now I was facing them all alone!

Tak was quick to return, though, springing back out of the water and rushing the foe from the flank, looking much angrier! Silanna chanted something and multiple images of herself appeared, making it impossible to tell where the real Silanna was. I managed to kill one foe, but I was completely surrounded so I fed an oak leaf into a new gadget I'd created, firing a cloud of shredded leaf at some of the foe to cause them irritation and distract them. Tak later pointed out that this was quite symbolic, using the glade's natural resource to defend it from attack... I was just trying to survive!

The orcs were advancing again, having regained some courage with their giant allies in front of them, but Silanna killed two with arrows once they emerged from cover. Tak traded blows, taking some damage, and I managed to finish another one off, so we were at least holding our own. The melee was getting a bit mad, though, as there were Silannas everywhere! Tak and I eventually took down a giant foe each, and that was enough to break the will of the few remaining, and they turned to flee. Tak was enraged about the desecration and draining of life from the glade, wanting to hunt them down, but Silanna was able to talk him down before he went too far and he started to seem calmer.

Instead we focused on undoing some of the harm, clearing one of the dams away to help the water flow. Silanna shouted a warning, though, as she heard a rider approaching. They were riding fast, and were soon upon us, but it turned out to be a male elf! He only saw us at the last moment, as he had been looking up at the sky. He drew up sharply, alert but not looking especially hostile. He addressed Silanna in their elf-tongue, asking about the demon. When he learned that the demon was gone he seemed to relax a little and sheathed the swords he had been carrying. He spoke in Common, thankfully, and acknowledged the rest of us. He introduced himself as "Farion", which seemed to excite Tak, who had heard legends about him. He also spoke Gnomish and recognised the Ironcloaks that Silanna and I wore. He wasn't above hard work, though, and agreed to help us remove the last dam, saying that it was important to restore and protect the great tree.

As we worked, he explained that the pool itself was a gate, but there was a blockage somewhere that had cut off the pool from its natural water source. We were joined by more elves as they arrived looking for Farion, and eventually there were about twenty of them and we were able to clean the glade in quick order. He agreed with Tak's concern about the threat that the orcs posed to Fontainver, and said that he would send a messenger to warn them. The elves were also interested in Tak's bow, and he allowed them to try it, but they decided it wasn't for them as it would be too unwieldy to use from horseback. They did offer to replace Silanna's bow, though, which they tactfully described as a bit "basic". Farion explained that they were seeking to reopen the natural gates across the land, and that this was one of them. He was also interested in what we had learned about the mountains where Fontainver once stood. He had heard of Bathomet, who he said fought for all half-folk, not that he was good or ill, but he would fight for those (my?) people. He also confirmed that the Lich King Mercantire Carass still ruled over LockLastar, so I could not find my people there.

Tak was quick to offer to explore the waters below the glade and try to clear whatever blockage might be there. Farion seemed relieved that we were willing to take on the task, and offered Silanna and me some potions that might help us survive underwater. We rested first, needing to recover from the fight, and Tak explored a little on his own. He saw lots of holes and bubbles, but no obvious way through without moving rocks, so we would all have to try together. We entered the water, after drinking some potions. I also created a bubble of air that I put on my head so that I could breathe freely as we explored. There was a large rock at the bottom of the pool that together we were able to lift and move, revealing a hollow that we could enter. At the bottom of that there was a hole that the water was entering, with and increasing current now we had removed an obstruction. We took the plunge and entered, being spun around as we shot through the narrow passage, eventually being spat out the other side into darkness.

Underwater Journey

We were only gently rotating after emerging, although the pressure seemed significant so we were deep underwater wherever we were. Because of the darkness we had no idea which way to go, so I quaffed a potion that gave me a sense of which way to go, and held on to Tak's shoulders so that I could guide him as we swam. It was a little disconcerting to be swimming in endless water without seeing or knowing where we were going, and after an hour Silanna had to quaff another potion to ensure she wouldn't run out of breath. At last we started to see something in the gloom - there was a rocky floor below us, but I had the sense we just needed to keep going. After about another hour, Tak noticed that there were rocky walls to the sides of us, so we were in a kind of canyon, but also noticed a current acting against us. He swam slightly above it so that we wouldn't be slowed down too much. About half an hour after that, Tak noticed that the colour of the rocks beside us had changed, and up ahead there was an opening of some kind. The current against us was strong there, so we tied rope to each other, faffing a little as the current took us apart, but eventually were ready to continue.

Tak swam through the roughly circular "entrance", and was confronted by the evil fish folk (Sahauagin he called them) on the other side. I launched flechettes at the centre foe as they started to close, but even more emerged from the gloom - maybe a dozen in total! Streaks of light flew into me from below, causing me some pain, and Silanna quaffed a potion to enable her to fight more easily. That had an unexpected effect, though, as it stopped the potion that was allowing her to breathe from working! Now she was just holding her breath. Tak swam forward and thrust his blades into one, killing it, but then I was put to sleep by dweomer. Tak killed another foe, then noticed that I was drifting in the current and tugged sharply on the rope until I woke up. Silanna drank another potion to sort her breathing issues out, but it no effect! She ended up quaffing another of the same kind, and thankfully this time it worked.

Tak was suddenly distracted by coloured lights in the water, which was concerning because he was definitely the best fighter underwater! I grabbed my weapon and stabbed at one in front of me, which did some damage, but I was taking a lot of hits and seemed to be beset from above and below. Silanna was trying to swim down whilst fighting, so that she was harder to surround, but I couldn't swim so I was stuck. Tak eventually came to, swimming straight into action, paralyzing one and killing another. Silanna was targeted with dweomer next, with electricity dancing in the water around her and causing her to spasm with pain. Tak and I healed some of our damage, trying to stay in the fight, but then Tak was blinded with more dweomer - if only we could reach the Shaman! Things were a bit desperate, but we were fighting hard and manage to land a few blows - Silanna ran one through, and Tak got lucky as he thrashed around, cutting the throat of one that got too close. I finally killed the one I'd been hurting, and that gave us a little space.

Tak came towards me, as he knew I couldn't move, and put his head inside my bubble of air to ask for a target, letting me know that he was blind. I pointed him down towards one foe, and he ferociously slashed in that direction, managing to kill another one! I fought on against another opponent, doing some damage, but it was Silanna that might save us as she had finally reached the Shaman. Once she killed it, and I managed to kill another, they started to flee. Silanna cut one down as it swam past, but we were quite glad to see them go as we were all hurt badly. After a minute of doing what we could to treat our various wounds, which unfortunately did not include restoring Tak's sight, we continued - Silanna only had so much air, after all.

Because Tak couldn't see, I had to "ride" his back, holding his shoulders to direct him as he swam forward. Silanna swam as well, just about keeping up with Tak, as we followed the current onwards. After some time we reached a rock face in front of us that contained a familiar looking stone door. It had a similar serpent symbology and bridge of souls as the one we had seen in the mountains, as well as the eye and pyramid symbol above it. The six sconces had glowing bluey/green gems instead of flames, which made sense underwater. The serpent heads on the doors seemed to be looking at a plain circle between them, which was different to being wrapped around two circles as the last door showed.

Silanna went ahead to approach it, and there was no reaction, but then as I got closer there was a massive shockwave that pushed us both back painfully, and straight into Tak! Tak managed to grab me, but it was a very unflattering hold as I ended up with my head between his legs - thankfully he couldn't see anything! Silanna managed to grab hold of me somehow, and Tak and Silanna eventually stabilised us enough that we weren't tumbling around. Tak was running a hand over me, trying to work out what had hit him, so I deliberately didn't fight him so that he wouldn't think I was a threat. He eventually found my throat, and relaxed as he realised it was me. Then he was able to turn me the right way up so that we could communicate, and I told him what had happened. As I was temporarily deaf it was a bit of a faff, but I got the gist that he was suggesting we approach from above, using the ring to activate the symbol above the door. He was also able to ease some of the pain the shockwave had caused, which was a welcome relief.

I started to get my hearing back as we approached the rock, moving carefully to be above the symbol without cross in front of it by accident. I helped to guide Tak's hand down and in front of the symbol slowly. As his had passed in front of the triangle, a light seemed to project the shape forwards, and as the ring passed over the centre of the eye a bright blue light shone from it, and we noticed light from the door below as if it had cracked open slightly. Silanna moved down to investigate, but as she passed over the soul bridge on the left it drained some of her vital energy... she had approached the wrong door! She had to close it and open the other door (on the right), and I helped to guide Tak down until we were beneath her and we were able to enter together.

Tak sensed that the water was more aerated, and the current subsided as we entered. There was a faint light up ahead, but Silanna thought she saw something move in the darkness, so I got my metal torch out to shed some light around as we moved forward. There was a floor below us, so we put our feet down and jogged forward, relying on the potions we had imbibed to allow us to move freely. I went first, and found that there was a door at the far end of the room we were passing through. Just one problem, though... there was a gnarly old fish-like serpent guarding it! It was huge, at least nine feet just raised above its coils, and it had red hackles sticking up, with patterned green and brown skin that looked quite beautiful if you forgot they were attached to an angry looking snake creature.

I turned to warn Tak of what was ahead of us, as he couldn't see it, as Silanna drew her swords. It circled around on Silanna's side, disappearing into the darkness again, so we paused as Tak spoke a strange language into the water. After a few minutes of nothing happening, we walked forward cautiously until the door ahead was illuminated by my torch. It looked like a single door version of the previous one, still with six points of light around it, and serpents either side and above. This time there was nothing on the door itself, and no bridge of souls above it, though. In the middle of the door was the familiar eye symbol. We approached carefully, with Tak ahead this time. He tried touching the circle, but there was no response.

As we approached, thinking that this door seemed to be benign, the huge snake creature darted in front of me, screaming in my face and making me jump backwards. It held its position, though, and didn't attack. Silanna moved around slightly to be closer to me, swords at the ready. Eventually it screamed once more in apparent frustration and slithered off into the darkness again. Tak, unable to see what had just happened, was focused on the door and was moving his hand around the triangle. As his hand moved towards a point on the lower right, the gems on that side seemed to glow brighter. I touched him to get his attention and described what had happened to him. He was frustrated that he didn't understand how the symbol functioned, and smashed his fist into the door with such force that it buckled and the whole door came away from its frame, floating backwards, and the gems all stopped glowing.

There seemed to be a gentle current flowing away from us, as it carried the door slowly backwards, but before I could move the serpent creature returned and stuck its head in front of me again. Silanna shoved Tak through the door and tried to grab me as well, but her hand slipped off and I was stuck. The creature's fangs looked nasty, but it still hadn't attacked in any way. It swayed in the water and suddenly I found that I couldn't move at all - I had been paralysed! Silanna returned, leaving Tak just inside the next room apparently meditating, and we had to wait for several minutes before (thankfully) I was able to start moving again. It seemed that the creature was dead set on stopping me (and just me) from continuing.

I was forced to drink a potion that we had found and identified that would allow me to travel to the border Ethereal plane, which would let me walk through walls and hopefully continue our journey. I told Silanna to continue with Tak, assuming that I was with them, and that I would reappear once the potion wore off. I wouldn't be able to communicate with them once I had made the transition, so she would need to guide Tak as well. Once I had quaffed the potion, I could see the room and those within it, but as if through a grey fog. I was able to walk through to the next room undisturbed, though, and I could see the heat of the creature frantically searching for me and then blocking the doorway. Silanna was only just able to swim through a gap, but that was enough to be reunited with Tak and continue.

Silanna guided Tak forward again, although they now had no way of talking without the air bubble around my head, making it even harder for them to communicate in any way. I was able to follow easily, even though I wasn't able to join them physically. It was a strange experience, although quite wondrous in its way. To go where you pleased, unseen and unhindered, was quite empowering. It was temporary, of course, and probably not without its dangers, but interesting. We continued for thirty minutes or so before Silanna noticed there might be a surface to the water above them and swam up to investigate. Once their heads were above water she was able to talk, and described to Tak what had happened. Tak was concerned that they shouldn't continue for too long without me, and they decided to wait underwater for a while to see if I appeared, tying a rope between them in case anything happened that might separate them.

Thankfully they were undisturbed and eventually I felt the world becoming more real around me as I transitioned back, appearing in the water where Silanna could see me. Once we had worked out how to get me up to the surface with them, we were properly reunited and set about swimming forward again. The rock floor kept rising until it reached the surface up ahead. We could see heat sources where the rock emerged into the air - possibly humanoid lizard shapes? One placed a torch into a holder on the wall, and then they gathered in a circle. It was a natural cave, but had narrowed and rose out of the water. I noticed that Silanna and Tak were both badly hurt, so I used my mind to help Silanna, gesturing that I'd like to speak. We raised our heads out of the water and I whispered that we needed to warn Tak what was ahead. We both tugged gently to urge him to come up to the surface (he was keen to stay in the water), but when he finally did so he asked what was going on really loudly!

Unsurprisingly, this caused a reaction up ahead. The lizard things rushed towards us, and I hurriedly used my mind to help Tak with some of his wounds. The creatures drew large, curved swords and Silanna moved forward to reach solid ground so that she could meet them before they reached the water. I tried calling out in Common that we were sorry for intruding and meant no harm, but there was no sign that they had understood me. I let Tak know this, so he tried speaking a different language... but that only seemed to enrage them! I urged him to move forward to help Silanna, and to get me close enough to get out of the water myself. He deposited me in the shallows, and I was able to wade forward until I could use my arms.

The, now rather angry, foes closed the distance quickly, though, and I was struck before I could defend myself. Silanna cut into one of them, and I thrust up into the one that had hit me. They were quite large, at least ten feet high, so my height was an advantage and I was able to find a weak spot in its belly. My staff penetrated and cut up into its innards, causing it to collapse and writhe around until it died shortly afterwards. Silanna finished her first foe off, a little more cleanly to be fair, although another stepped in to take its place. I moved forward to engage another, as the last focused on Tak. I called a warning to him, saying that he had a foe to his fore and right. We all suffered blows, although we were holding them short of the water's edge.

I struck my new foe a glancing blow, but Tak managed to land one of his wild swings and killed his foe outright (possibly without even knowing it). My second blow was better placed, and my foe fell. I tried to move behind the last one to cut off its escape, shouting that there was only one left so that Tak knew the situation. Silanna punched it twice, trying not to kill it, and both blows struck its head powefully. It collapsed, out cold, allowing us a moment to catch our breaths and remove the rope that the others were connected by. We had been waiting to get out of the water so that Silanna could use a scroll to help Tak, and sure enough she was able to dispel the blindness that had afflicted him! Yes!

Now that he could see, Tak took a moment to study the cave we had entered. He reckoned that water had once flowed here, so the torch holder must have been a more recent addition. We move forward to examine that area, looking left to see a steep slope and narrowing of the passage to become a tube leading upwards. The main cave continued straight ahead, though, and it seemed that water had flowed along the main shaft we were in. Silanna noticed a symbol shimmering on the roof where the cave junction was - it was the eye and pyramid symbol we had seen before. There was also a very faded set of markings on the ground - a star around a circle with three old gods marked. We could barely make it out due to the water erosion, but it seemed like this was what the lizard creatures had been gathered around. The torch sconce itself was metal, and shaped like a serpent.

Tak examined it and then tried to take the torch, not wanting to leave fire in a place of water. As he did so, though, the sconce came alive and bit him! He collapsed on the floor, and the snake kept getting bigger! It was about five feet long, and partially curled around Tak, when Silanna use dweomer to slow down its growth somehow. I ran forward and smacked it solidly with my staff, but that wasn't enough to kill it. It was still growing, but it had certainly slowed down and we both set upon it, slashing and whacking it until it released Tak and collapsed, shrinking back down to the metal form it had started as, although no longer attached to the wall. Thankfully Tak came around shortly afterwards, so we explained what happened. He seemed to be upset that he was being a burden, but the only reason he was bitten was because he was the only one that knew what to look for when someone had set a trap, so not a burden at all!

Tak took the torch from the floor, which didn't seem to have been burning for long, and extinguished it after I offered to use my infused torch instead (because it has no actual fire). The creatures had clearly been conducting a ceremony of some kind, but we didn't know how the torch interacted with the star and symbols. We explored a little farther and found that there was another star symbol on the other side of the junction, although it had one different God and a different orientation to the first. We didn't want to change what we didn't understand, so we decided to continue along the main shaft instead. There was no real change for an hour or so, although it did seem to get drier and slightly warmer as we traveled. Eventually we reached a further narrowing in the shaft just before it veered to the right.

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.

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.