Byron, for now the inquisitor is equally cagey with you. "Sounds very interesting dear boy. We'll have to find time to talk at length once all this mess is sorted out." He waves his hands vaguely toward the walls of the Watch.
Osric, who had sat down and closed his eyes for a bit, perks up his ears at Ky La's statement. "Aside from the mephits and the climate change, any ideas as to the extent of the ramifications of our earlier actions?"
"So, while I'm eager to help keep the city together, I must confess I feel a little lost. We sort out one crisis and three leap up to take it's place."
The braying laughter that erupts from Ky La is loud and startling. It is the first spontaneous show of mirth you have ever seen from him - his previous chuckles were as false as the inquisitor himself.
"Welcome to life, young Fiordelise. If you wish to stay in the game of making a name for yourself, I suggest you get used to it."
He turns to Osric. "The mind of a sylph never sleeps, eh Osric? I look forward to a discussion with you, as well. Later, though. I would hate for our conversation to be interrupted."
Dove comes around the corner, and makes a shooing gesture at Matóskah, who shrugs and goes to stand behind the foyer's desk.
The lieutenant's serene face suddenly gives way to a scowl as he sees the inquisitor. "Người, the last two times you sullied this place with your presence, I tolerated it since you came with--"
Ky La interrupts him. "Yes, yes, I will never tire of your never-ending wellspring of wordplay. However, your...lackeys? Minions? Subordinates?" The inquisitor looks at each of you in turn, then shakes his head. "Hmm. They have some amusing updates for you." He spreads his hands. "So who would like to tell the tale? I would love to, but my words would likely fall on...ruffled feathers, as it were."
Dove attempts to compose himself, tucking his long black hair behind his ears. He says nothing; he is concentrating on not looking at the inquisitor.
Pausing a breath to think about what to say, Odebie shrugs hopelessly and just goes for it. "V'Manco is dead and may have been possessed by an efreet. The steam in the Steam Slums is gone, and strange creatures called 'mephits' stalk the streets. We found a darkspawn under the statue of King Fret."
He gives Dove a moment to let all that sink in.
Osric seizes Odebie's pause and chimes in with a few other details. "It would seem the temple has been enslaving these efreet to bolster the glorious heat of Volcano. With one dispatched, we seem to be getting a cold snap."
"In addition, there are three reanimated corpses walking around Hearth seeking to slay inquisitors. There are also three elens working with them, one of which has slain Inquisitor So Khong. That's what the bells were all about. Apparently, they're immune to the corrupting touch of the infectors. It's never a good day when temple shenanigans spill over into the streets."
The sylph lieutenant's pale features seem to be sculpted from stiff plaster. In a breathy voice devoid of emotion, he states, "The Blessed." The fingers of his right hand worry at small silver pinkie ring on his left. In the same tone, he continues, "And you will keep playing your game of eite with whatever pawns come within your reach." His eyes are far away, lost in thought.
Shattering the quiet moment like a child stomping on ants, Ky La says with oily insincerity, "I know you still bear the scars from that day, but I truly need Ra--"
Dove's shrill scream carries a hint of red-tailed hawk behind it. "Do not say her name!" He takes a step forward. With a savage gesture, Dove's hand begins crackling with blue-white celerity.
The inquisitor steps forward, and removes his glasses. His eyes lose none of their invasive scrutiny - they simply appear smaller, like a crocodile hiding in murky water. He points to his chest, slightly to the left of the red triangle of Volcano that hangs from his neck. "Use only your index finger, in just the right spot, and I'll bet you can stop my heart."
As if waking from a dream, Dove looks at his own hand, still coruscating with lightning. At once, the energy winks out, and his hand falls back to his side with a light thwap.
Looking down, Dove begins twisting the pinkie ring off. It is a laborious process - the ring has obviously been on his finger for years. When it finally pops off, the skin under the ring looks livid and bruised. With his back turned to Ky La, he places the ring on one of the wooden benches. It lands with a hollow ringing sound.
Still facing away from the group, he says hoarsely, "Where exactly did you see the mephits? How many? Did you kill them? Did they follow you?"
Ky La scoops up the small ring as if it were a copper cloudie off the street. Strolling over to the door, he says, "Mr. Cheme and Mr. Ferret, I do look forward to discussing our mutual interests further. If you are so inclined, come to my chambers tomorrow morning."
He opens the creaking door after some effort. Then he holds his hands up theatrically. "No, no! Don't worry about me! I'll make it back to the Temple safe and sound on my own. Really though, your concern is absolutely touching."
Softly, he murmurs several syllables in Benthic. "看不见". An instant later, he disappears from sight. The door remains open, and the snow begins to drift in.
"They poured out of the collapsed statue of king fret. There were maybe dozens of them. We engaged with one of them, but it had the high ground and some nasty breath attacks, forcing us to retreat. They seemed to be holding to the perimeter of where the steam used to reach, though I'm sure they could do much damage even within that radius. I would suggest your men acquire protective gear or alchemical solutions to mitigate the heat of their breath before attempting to clear them out."
Shutting the door after the inquisitor with an annoyed sigh, Odebie rejoins Dove and Osric. Wisely, or at least patently, he decides not to press Dove for details right now. "The ifrits among us would be best suited to deal with them. Have them bring crossbows."
Odebie, Fi, and Byron: Out of the fifty or so on-duty guards, most are currently out on patrol. You assemble five ifrits who are at least passable with a crossbow. Dove accompanies you as well. The snow starts to fall harder. However, the white-gray cloud cover does give a welcome respite from the Dark abyss that hangs above. Far to the north, the clouds nearest to Volcano appear to be on fire as they reflect deep oranges and reds.
As you travel west toward the Slums, the entire population of the Dims seems to have been swallowed by the snow. The windows you pass are dark and shuttered. All evidence of other elens, even footprints in the snow, is entirely absent. The crunch of your boots in the white powder seems almost obscene, like laughter in a mausoleum.
You approach the border of the Slums. The snow line is lower here - the last vestiges of the Slum's heat caused some of the snow to melt. After today, there will be no sign that the steam was ever here.
Osric, you ascend the grand staircase to the fourth tier. You see several grotesque efreet statues perched above the grand double-doors. They all have gaping, empty sockets where their eyes should be. Several are clutching stone tomes to their chests and screaming with their heads thrown back.
Inside, you are bumped by an elen carrying a ludicrous armload of books. You hear a diffident voice murmur, "Oh Volcano, my apologies!" In his attempt to back up, a few of the tomes slip from the top of the pile and land near your feet. You can now see the face of Tomas Crosso, a librarian both you and Byron know well. Glasses perched upon his head, he squints at you, then smiles. "Osric! How long has it been? Could you help me with those?" He looks down toward the books on the floor. One is titled Ancient Kings of Hearth, and the other is The Paradox of Rubies.
Keeping his hammer close at hand, Odebie moves cautiously towards the sound.
As Odebie signals that there could be trouble close by, Dove quietly casts magic weapon on the various crossbows you and the ifrit guards are carrying.
Odebie, the privates are happy to let you take the lead. Dove seems to be interested in what you will do. Peering around the of the crumbling stone building, you see several mephits gathered around two elens on the ground - an undine and an ifrit. Some of the mephits are holding the arms and legs of the elens. Clawed hands are now covering their mouths, as well. One mephit, standing a bit straighter than the others, is situated directly between the two elens. It appears to be examining the two very closely, but it is difficult to tell more. You also notice this mephit has dark, swirling patterns all over its skin - possibly ink, or perhaps beings such as these use charcoal.
All the mephits are the slightly smaller kind. There is no sign of the larger mephit you fought earlier.
Osric smiles gregariously at his old friend."Tomas! Certainly, let me get those for you... "Osric pauses as he sees what the books are about. "Believe it or not, these are the sort of books I'm here to research. I don't know how far word has spread yet, but it seems we helped Ky La dispatch an ancient efreet spirit earlier today, down by the cursed statue. There are... side effects, it would seem. Where, out of curiosity, were you going with these books in such a hurry?"
Osric, Tomas smiles. "An amusing coincidence indeed! Byron stopped in here, oh, a week or so ago, with a charming lady by his side." The ifrit looks distracted for a moment. "Back when all the trouble was happening with Corazon and v'Manco and all that, I noticed many books concerning efreets were disappearing. I gathered all the others that I could, in an attempt to save them from whatever was happening."
He nods eagerly toward you. "And of course I've heard about you and your recent exploits - getting named heroes of the Temple and all that. I figured it was as good a time as any to start putting the books back."
His eyes wander around the ceiling as he thinks for a moment. He peers at you near-sightedly. "What was that about...side effects?"
Not wanting to strike the elens, Byron refrains from using a bomb and instead fires his crossbow at the marked mephit.
"Well, that's what I'm here to determine. When we finished banishing the spirit, a gaggle of small creatures called mephits showed up. My compatriots are no doubt engaging the vermin now, but I want to determine whether or not they should be the extent of our worries. Also, the steam is gone and it's snowing out there. I need to find out whether we've made a slight change to the balance of Hearth, or if we've destabilized its foundations, dooming us all."
"No, DON'T- damn it!" Hammer leveled, Odebie charges forwards in a vain attempt to reach the elen before the mephits kill them.
Osric:
Tomas nods, still looking into the distance as he mulls over your words. "I suppose it is a bit early in the year for snow...we usually don't get this much until Giantrites..." He shakes his head, and his eyes focus back on you.
"I peeked my head out of the Temple earlier to take a look at the Slums myself - the steam disappearing like that is far more troubling. I don't suppose you managed to kill one of those mephits? I have a friend here in the Temple who might give us some answers if he could look at a body."
(this is fairly easy to get)
Mephits, thoqqua, fire hounds, and magmin are generally regarded as "smart" beasts, but not approaching elen intelligence.
Mephits come in many different 'flavors', as evidenced by the steam mephits you've run into. Mephits (of all kinds) are also the type of creature seen most often outside the planes - they seem to have a knack for crossing over. On the planes, they are seen as scavengers - equivalent to rats, or rivergulls.
Salamanders have never been seen outside Igniscoeli, as the material world is unbearably cold to them. It is fairly common knowledge for someone who knows how to research that they are the dominant race on the plane.
Elementals, of course, are Volcano's servants, and are above any considerations of mortal beings. Common summoning spells are theorized to only create a lesser shadow of what a true elemental actually is. Binding an elemental's true essence to the material plane is considerably more difficult and dangerous.
(this is over the course of a several hours. you'll need to devote more time if you want to learn more)
Thousands of years ago, when Sky first fell, the gods were more active in the Land. Volcano set three efreeti kings to rule the three great cities. However, when Volcano destroyed the efreet for betraying him, the three kings proved too powerful to kill outright. Instead, he buried them deep under their respective cities, and set them to work:
--The efreeti under Hearth provided steam. This was used for baths, cleaning, and the occasional steam-powered convenience. It is rumored to give health-giving qualities.
--The efreeti under Forge provides coal. A never-ending supply of hot-burning coal resides in the Coal Hills.
--The efreeti under Light provides celerity. The sylphs of Light use this for a multitude of purposes.
In addition to these resources, each efreeti king's essence was used to power spells of protection. This includes defensive spells in case of attack, as well as barricading the cities from the other planes. The god's planes have becomes wilder since the Gods' Slumber, so any breach could be quite dangerous.
Not being one for battle magic, Fiordelise calls forth Dancing Lights hoping the Mephits either aren't smart or aren't familiar with Elen magic and distract them from tearing into the vulnerable people, pulling them away a little if possible.
Osric rubs his eyes out of fatigue. Why couldn't we have just left well enough alone? "This confirms my fears, Tomas. If Volcano Himself couldn't kill them, then what we did today was not dispatching the efreet, but more likely merely banished it back to its home. They don't seem to be the forgiving sort, either. Hearth may be in some serious trouble. What do you have on those wards? Is it possible we could we replicate them ourselves?"
Wanting nothing more than to get some rest after a long day, Osric presses on, trying to find answers before the questions are even asked.
Byron initiates the fight by shooting his crossbow at the marked mephit, but the bolt clangs off its hard skin.
Odebie, desperate to save the two elens, sprints across the wet snow. His sprint turns into a slide, then a fall. Fortunately, he makes a somewhat graceful dive into the dirt, where he continues burrowing
Reacting quickly, the marked mephit flies into the air, landing on the roof of a close-by spice shop. Yelling in hoarse Ifrit, it says, "Kill! Kill!" and points at all of you. It ducks low, making it very difficult to see.
The mephits bare their jagged teeth and take to the air, flying toward the intruding elens. One stays behind near the undine and the ifrit.
The ifrits react somewhat wildly to the mephits shrieking and taking to the air. They all shoot at different targets.
The three northern mephits all take bolts in their shoulders or torsos. They scream in both surprise and pain as the enchanted weapons pierce their hides.
Fi attempts to distract the mephits with dancing lights. One seems to think it is an attack of some kind, and swats at it ineffectively
Dove appears to be waiting for the mephits to get closer before acting.
Byron frowns slightly. They had scattered, which made throwing bombs less effective. Perhaps continuing with the crossbow was best.
He reloads and fires at one of the injured ones.
Fi moves forwards firing her bow.
Osric,
You and Tomas work through the rest of the day. Tomas actually falls asleep on a dusty old tome an hour or two after dim.
--The lesser effect of the wards is to defend against physical invaders. The Temple could activate these wards to incinerate attacking armies, etc. This is a lesser concern, as Hearth has not been physically attacked in generations.
--The greater effect of the wards was to prevent teleportation from other places in the Land, and to prevent shifting in from other planes. Since Hearth is a place of great power from the presence of Volcano, River, and (up until recently) the Steam, it is reasonable to assume that the fabric between planes is weaker here. Without the wards, this could spell trouble. You have already seen the presence of mephits, but as mentioned earlier mephits can slip between the cracks much more easily than other beings.
With the proper expertise (inquisitors, priests, magi) it would be theoretically possible. You don't have the exact details yet, but the outline of such preparations is beginning to take shape in your mind.
The main issue is that of power. There is no longer an ancient efreeti king underneath Hearth to act as a power source for these spells. You would need to come up with a suitable long-term power source for these wards.
Odebie burrowed further into the alley, towards where the two elen were in an attempt to get behind them.
Odebie continues to burrow, unseen by the mephits.
The mephits all take a collective breath, and blow boiling lines of steam toward the cluster of ifrits.
In response to this, Dove shouts a few words in Sylph. Extending his arm and pointing in an arc, a violent storm of wind rises up around the ifrits, dissipating all the steaming air before it reaches them. In a harsh voice, the lieutenant directs the ifrits to concentrate their fire.
The privates attack the two northernmost mephits.
Two of the mephits fall to the ground, dead, and a third takes another bolt through its cheek.
Byron and Fi both miss with their attacks.
The marked mephit, enraged by its fallen brethren, lifts its head high into the Sky and lets out a piercing whistle. It echoes through the narrow alleyways. After a moment, you all hear the distant flapping of many more mephit wings.
Hearing the approach of more enemies, Byron pulls out a vial and quaffs it.
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Odebie explodes out of the dirt like the dead returned, slamming his hammer down on the mephit threatening the two Elen.
Odebie shoots up from below, and, in the same swift motion, brings his hammer down hard enough to shake the ground. The mephit's head and torso simply collapse.
The male ifrit sprints toward the group, pulling the female undine behind him.
Fi and the Privates manage to pick off two more of the mephits.
Seeing two more of their rank fall, the remaining Mephits fly to the same rooftop as the Marked Mephit. The marked mephit breathes gentle steam into their faces, which causes their wounds to start closing up.
A cloud of gray, winged shapes temporarily blots out Volcano. At their current rate, they are less than a minute away from here.
Dove shouts, "Out of the Slums! Back into the dirt with you, Sergeant! I'll cover the escape in case they follow!" The ifrits nod and slowly start a tactical retreat.
Fi lets out an exasperated sigh as the Mephits heal each other, and plants her feet firmly next to Dove. Readying to shoot any that move for the fleeing Elen.
Between Fi's bow, a few gusts of wind from Dove, and two cold bombs from Byron, you keep the thirty or more mephits at bay as you retreat.
The border is not far away, and again the mephit seems unwilling or unable to cross it. The growl and screech in frustration as they pull up short in their persuit. The marked mephit simply watches you all from its perch.
However...
As you emerge from the dirt, you notice the staff has fallen out of your pack. In fact, it appears to have slid between the loops you tied around it, as if it did so of its own volition. It is standing upright in the soil.
The mephits are closing in fast. No matter how hard you pull on the staff, it appears to be rooted in place. When you place your hands upon the wood, you hear,
"Beyond a co-ordinated military assault and heavy casualties, I'm not sure how we can retake this part of the city? Even assaulting and wiping them out - without knowing where they're coming from it could be an endless battle. Hopefully Osric had more look with his research."
Byron frowns. "It's curious that they're still stopped at the edge of the district something must still be holding them back perhaps if we could track down the source of the effect and extend it..."
Pulling his hand back like he'd been scalded, Odebie tentatively touches the stick again and... thinks at it. "The creatures are coming, and you sit in the shadow of Volcano. Will you be alright?"