Editing Chronicle - Malek (section)

== A Very Gnomish Lock ==

The current against us was about equal to human swimming strength, so we had to force our way forwards. [[Lanzi]] flicked his tail and darted ahead, [[Hintzu]] just missing his fin as he shot past. [[Milai]], though, was hasted and in her element so she quickly outpaced the shark. The water got darker as we entered the hydra's cave, so I took out my gem of light to give us some chance of navigating. [[Lanzi]] transformed back to human form, coaxing Si Ti Qa into the water with him. [[Milai]] discovered a shaft leading upwards, but strangely it was completely flooded.

[[Milai]] disappeared up the shaft quickly, followed by [[Lanzi]] who had returned to shark form. The water was getting colder as we progressed, although [[Odin]] was protecting me from the effects. [[Milai]], unpeturbed, was shooting ahead and quickly reached the top of the shaft, some hundred feet up. There was light up there, and she emerged into a room with water flowing from all around into the chute in the centre that we were ascending. An unfamiliar constellation of stars appeared to be above her on the ceiling, and glowing stones sat on four pedestals in a square around the chute, about a yard tall. The room was more like a cavern, being irregular in shape. The water across the floor was only a few inches deep, but seemed to be starting to move as if a gentle wind was blowing across the surface, circling the chute in the centre.

Meanwhile, at the foot of the shaft, [[Odin]]'s guidance seemed to end and I stopped. (Note - I later found that we had entered an area where time was different, so this was no failure of [[Odin]] as an ignorant reading of this text might suggest at first glance) Not understanding what had happened, I tried to stop [[Hintzu]], gesturing at the walls around me (we could not speak effectively underwater). [[Lanzi]] reached the surface, bursting through next to [[Milai]] in his usual spectacular entrance. [[Hintzu]] had seen me, though, and stopped to investigate the walls.

[[Milai]] was confused by the water level, as nature would suggest that we could not climb a hundred feet to another surface of water without dweomer being involved, but there seemed to be no illusory dweomer that she could detect. She inspected the pedestals more closely, finding them to be exquisitely carved into a perfect cylinder with a clam shell atop them, where a crystal sat glowing white with dweomer. I joined [[Hintzu]] in checking the walls below, but they too appeared to be real. [[Lanzi]] changed back to his human form, warning [[Milai]] that he suspected that planar travel could be involved as the plane of water had great influence in this place. [[Milai]] touched one of the glowing stones, with no effect.

I slowly started to climb the chute, unable to do anything else, but the current was too strong for me to force my way up and keep hold of the walls! [[Morwath]] had joined us, and bid us watch as he turned into a dolphin, so that we knew it was him. [[Hintzu]] gestured for me to take hold of him, and I grabbed him by his belt and hips. He shot up the shaft, working his miracles with the hard rock and taking me with him. [[Morwath]] followed us, slipping easily through the water as a dolphin. Meanwhile [[Lanzi]] warned [[Milai]] that air obviously had an influence and a planar shift might be taking place. The rest of us emerged into the chamber, seeing for the first time the strange constellation above us. [[Milai]] was pacing in the wind, which was growing stronger.

Now together, we started to search in earnest for an exit, but could find none. [[Hintzu]] flew up to the ceiling to examine the 'stars'; they turned out to be glowing stones embedded in a smooth ceiling, apparently fashioned by hand. The increasing cyclonic wind was beginning to concern us, and the water was now noticably getting deeper. We decided that the place was filled with negative energy, and we should try to counter it with positive energy. We stood by the pedestals and decided who would contribute what; I would call on [[Odin]] for radiance, [[Milai]] mineral with a gem, [[Lanzi]] steam with his dweomer, and [[Morwath]] lightning with his elemental powers. [[Hintzu]] called the timing so that we all acted together. There was a loud crack, the wind stopped abruptly and the water drained away. The stones above us shifted in the ceiling, but with no visible mechanism powering them, and a stone column started to rise from the shaft we had entered through.

[[Lanzi]] and [[Hintzu]] flew up to the ceiling, uncertain of what might happen; the 'stars' above shifted into the pattern of the phoenix constellation, a positive sign, and gap appeared directly above the rising shaft. A spark of electrical discharge flew from the pedestal nearest [[Melai]] to the wall, and then a bright light filled the room, coming from the new hole in the ceiling. The light was a bright blue, as if on midday in summer, and we hurried to get on the shaft that would take us up to this new place. The shaft rose for several minutes, emerging into an endless expanse of sky, all around us, with flashes of radiant fire appearing at random, warming us but not causing any harm. Below us appeared to be a dome, in which the room we had left was encased.

The platform eventually stopped beside four floating, leaf-shaped dishes filled with water. [[Lanzi]] warned of powerful negative spirits, and the familiars were obviously agitated. This time, being in such a radiant, positive place, we used negative elements on the bowls: salt, dust, ash and vacuum. I had to conjure a large meal in order to get salt, so took the opportunity to enjoy lunch. Once we had added these elements to the bowls, the shaft started to descend again. The room we entered, though, was completely different. There was a new, unfamiliar constellation above us and the floor was molten stone, clearly a meeting of fire and earth. Two brass dishes were floating on the magma below, towards which we were descending.

We decided that we needed positive energy to balance the room, so I threw a ball of radiant energy from my crown and [[Melai]] a diamond, one at each dish. The shaft reversed its direction again, rising into another room, this time filled with ooze that was slowly turning around the platform we stood on. Having now cracked the key, we knew we would need dust and salt to progress, and quickly added them to the dishes nearby. The ooze drained slowly from the room, leaving us standing on a forty foot square platform without any walls.