Ibinu has no will left. That last spell, cast as strong as the Lady could possibly channel through him, has left him...tired. He blinks, his mind reeling,
"Just tell Sophia, the Lady, that I didn't mean it. I tried to do the right thing. Just. Volc, feels like volc's gotta die..." The hand attached to the spear tried to gesture, but the effort is futile.
Reeling from the white hot lance of fire, Samen gathers his courage and moves toward the source of the darkness, following Aisling's directions.
"I don't know you or your motives, but you're dangerous and trying to kill us.
The Onyx shudders mightily, cracks appearing and growing.
A whisper on the wind, "Humans are here, and it matters..."
Gabe times his attacks just as Samen's spell takes effect. He reappears mid punch with fists and feet and elbows blurring as he's striking so fast.
Gems...
will?
kill?
The death of that great concentration of Dark creates an imbalance. I must act. A golden voice unfurls from inside a kettle concealed within Samen's pack. "Champion!" I bellow both aloud and in his mind, heedless of politeness and protocol. "The darkspawn grow bold, and are likely to swarm this bleeding artery of magicks at any moment. Cleanse this miserable pile of onyx offal! Show all creatures that the Dark cowers before the light of Sun!
Aisling almost feels sorry for the dark ifrit, it didn't sound like it had much choice.
But any consideration of mercy was squashed as the mutilated bodies of his companions float through his mind. And the attempt at his life which he easily shrugs off, blessings of The Raven Prince pushing against the darkness only steels his resolve.
+2 flank +4 due lower AC
Blood, thick as lava, flows slow from gaping wounds. The Cauldronslave falls to his knees, then collapses like stones after lavaburst.
"Good thinking, Sunlord, but I already used my allotted sun magic earlier today. Any chance you could come out of the teapot and cleanse it yourself? I'm a little busy."
He goes over to Ibinu and shoves the rod of negation into the spear. "Let go of him. You can't have him."
Benedetto blinks as the elen they'd been fighting goes down, even as the rest of the group smashes some sort of enchanted gem he hadn't even noticed. He glances around as Samen deals with the spear. "We'd better get moving as soon as we can. Something's... wrong here still."
Benedetto, a yellow beam of light erupts from Samen's pack, and lands squarely the chest of your armor. A commanding voice says, "Strike, holy warrior! The onyx shards still hold the stench of corruption! Strike, I say!"
Benedetto is... startled, to say the least, but he's not going to deny that the command sounds right. His rapier isn't exactly the best weapon for breaking things, but he gives it his best swing.
River is in no danger of death or damage - somehow she always seems to come through fights almost untouched, but she is both confused and disoriented by the sudden brutality and the booming voices.
Benedetto is... startled, to say the least, but he's not going to deny that the command sounds right. His rapier isn't exactly the best weapon for breaking things, but he gives it his best swing.
With nothing as holy as a paladin, and without the ability to motivate him for another action, Aisling simply tries to delay the breach.
He chucks his last holy water onto the spear, focusing his internal well of sanctity into it, increasing the power of the simple attack.
Holy, his last air water, splashes onto the dark weapon, sizzling.
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Gabriel is barely breathing hard as the onyx pieces fall around him though he does flinch as Opræterius decides to show himself in his obnoxious way.
He watches curiously as the smallest of the gem shards creep toward the places where wall and floor meet. Their dark energies being leeched for some unknown purpose. There is the slightest of tinkling as the first tiny shard shatters, it's energies spent. "They must be ravenous..."
He looks around for the fritan woman that was preparing the food earlier but shrugs when she's not in sight. Another morsel for the Dark, saved from the Cauldron Lady but not oblivion.
Benedetto is... startled, to say the least, but he's not going to deny that the command sounds right. His rapier isn't exactly the best weapon for breaking things, but he gives it his best swing.
[dice=Attack?]1d20+15
[dice=Damage?]1d6+5
"No, THIS WAY!" You feel your rapier tugged in various directions, darting about. Like poisonous fumes killing flies, the shards pop, burn, and lie still.
The ordeal is exhausting , and the yellow aura of light, grumbling about imperfect vessels, flies back into Samen's pack.
**
As Samen shoves the nullifying rod against the spear, a hideous sound like tearing metal fills the room, awful and inescapable. You feel resistance, the will of the spear pushing back, but with its Champion dead it quickly loses its strength. The rending sound doubles, then redoubles, the scream of a dying artifact erupting against your eardrums and skulls.
...
And it is done. The black spear crumbles, and the el known as Ibinu Kemish to his friends is dead. The Cauldronslave is free.
"Well!" Samen pats out a smoldering bit of his clothing, wincing at the third degree burns underneath. "That went about as well as could be expected! Thank you for the assistance. This would've been much harder without your aid. We should find that elle, as she is a loose end." He makes no move toward pursuing that goal, but quietly hopes one of these new friends is a skilled tracker.
He looks at Ibinu's broken, but free body with grim determination. "You, good sir, are too important to waste. Your vows are complete, but you still have much promise. It's a shame you're so big." He tries to pick up the body, or at the very least drag it.
Aisling stashes his daggers back into their place at his hip and into a bracer.
"We really didn't get a chance to talk, but this place may be as safe as we can hope for for the foreseeable future.
So...would you guys mind getting us up to speed. Start with what are you, what kind of el? I've never seen one unmarked by the gods.
And this guy, you obviously have a history. And powerful artefacts to boot. What did we get into here?
"
Aisling goes toward the door young elle went through and listens at them, hoping for signs of life.
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"All good questions," Benedetto agrees, "But what I most want to know is, what was that?" He gestures with his free hand at Samen's pack, where that light had gone. "And what is a 'Sun'? It's nothing like the Moon, is it?"
In spite of his questions, when he sees Samen trying to drag the corpse of what had apparently once been a friend, he sheathes his blade and moves to help.
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Holding no lingering affection for Ibinu, he leaves Samen to his task. He does gift them with a rare chuckle though, "Try not turning this one into a drake, yes?"
Gabe is surprisingly talkative about the subject of Benedetto and Aisling's questions. Perhaps he's still trying to process it himself."I'm not sure about the metaphysics of it but apparently once upon a time, before the gods and the Dark I guess, there were humans. Or maybe it was around the same time? There was a lot going on when we heard the story... Anyway, when we were underground with the mycos, we came across the remnants of one of these humans in one of their chambers. Samen did... something, not sure what, and shed his elemental "gifts" to become what you see. A while later, we were fighting these Gems" he gestures to the the shards Benedetto just decimated, "in the Great Forest and in Uknu...Uknukhi... Uknu-something. Apparently there was a war between the fey, one side was allied with Moon, the other trying to stay free. The Gems had managed to capture the being we came to know as Opræterius and was using them as a power source. It was this being that was guiding your sword Benedetto." Gabe lets that revelation sink in for a few long moments. "I'll leave explaining that one to Samen, he is the champion after all. After a few experimental transformations and overcoming some serious doubts, I decided to join Samen in this revived Humanity though I was able to mold my shape to a distinctly different aspect than Samen here... While we are answering questions, now would be a great time to explain how you know of Abnaki as well."
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Aisling cringes at the name again.
"There is a fair bit of History there." you could hear capital H in that history "And note that this group doesn't know me, they free me from temple cell. The rest of my original group perished. I grew up in the remple of The Sky..."
"Erghf!" Samen grunts as he tries to move Ibinu. He sighs in relief when Benedetto comes to help. "Thank you so much! He's even heavier than he looks."
He nods in agreement as Gabriel recounts their tale. When he finishes, Samen takes over to fill in the religious details. "The history and religion that is common knowledge is all lies and legend. Please don't get mad at me if this runs counter to your worldview. I'm very tired, and I frankly don't care what you believe. The gods are not so different from us, it seems. They squabble and scheme, they live and they die. Every time they die, they are eventually reborn, but some of their essence is diminished. Sometimes mortals gather that essence and become something between mortal and god. Mortals like Abnaki."
"Anyway, In ancient times, as Gabriel says, there were no el, only humans. There was an overall Harmony. We had Sun and Moon, Forest and River, Volcano and Sky. Probably others, but you get the idea. Gods granted 'gifts' to mortals, but it was like gifting a pagona a harness, making mortals suitable servants for their own interests and preferences. Sun alone despised this practice, but he held a position of great power and respect. Moon and Volcano conspired to eliminate Sun and his ally Sky. They succeeded, but Moon fell as well. What they failed to consider was that this divine war also ruined the Harmony. More pirmal, unthinking forces emerged and covered the land. Darkness wasn't born, it had always existed, but it was now unchecked, save for the feeble efforts of Volcano to preserve the world it had destroyed."
"If I was a betting man, when I reveal where we learned this, I would expect you to have met one of him. Does the name inquisitor Ky La ring a bell to any of you? We killed one of him and I took his glasses."
He sets Ibinu down for a moment to catch his breath, to continue the story. "Recently, Sun, Moon, and I presume Sky have all begun to be reborn. A side effect of this is a thinning of boundaries between elemental planes and our own home, resulting in the gods effectively carrying out territorial disputes, carving up mortal lands. What I suspect was a blessing from Sun, though it was interpreted as coming from Volcano, was a small group of people who proved to be immune to the corrupting influence of the Dark. The 'Blessed Ones'. One ascended like Abnaki, one died and now possesses a mushroom friend of ours, and the last is Ibinu here. They were instrumental in the overthrowing of the inquistion and aided greatly in the fight against Moon."
"Opræterius is an agent of Sun, but has no more knowledge as to Sun's whereabouts than I do. This realm is too dark for him, so he stays put in my teapot unless the situation is dire. He has the power to revoke elemental yokes that render you all els and elles, to restore your humanity. He has declared me to be a priest of Sun, though I have no religious proclivities. I suppose I do serve his interests, though."
He takes a deep breath and gets under the burden of Ibinu once more. "He has also granted me the ability to restore life to the recently deceased, though it comes with a muddling of elemental gifts. I figure the world needs at least one of these Blessed Ones to be alive for whatever is coming. I assume Dove will have access to the supplies I need."
"Anything else you wanted to know?"
For those with sensitive magical Sights, the corruption begins to disappear. The longer you follow this fading blackness, the more you realize the extent of it. To the east of the Temple lies the Quiet Elder. You can imagine that the Onyx creature has designs on the Elder before you shattered and snuff it.
You feel the city breathe a psychic sigh of relief. It may take time for the people to heal, but the worst is over.
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"That's... a lot," Benedetto says, stunned. Where did that put him in all this? Was Phoenix actually a servant of Volcano, or was it something else? And where did all this leave him now?
Well... fighting to protect people from the corruption sweeping through Hearth, of course. That hadn't changed.
"Any idea if we should expect more problems here under the Temple? And the name Ky La doesn't seem familiar, but we've fought enemies who never gave us a name. Who are they?"
"In my experience, there's always trouble under this temple. In my opinion, it should be razed to the ground. Ky La is a slippery Moon el. He is all the Moon el. I've killed him twice now, but I've heard of him showing up in other places as well. He's short, bald, smirking, and speaks in questions. It's surprisingly satisfying to kill him."
"So, that's our story. What led the three of you to be hunting darkspawn in the basement?"
River actually hisses at Samen's words. It seems she doesn't appreciate the idea of being 'cleansed' and the frown on her face shows that she doesn't like the sound of Sun any more than Moon.
"Why always interfering?" She murmurs, "Leave people alone!"
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"This assumes we want to be free of our own heritage. I, for one, am proud to be sylph."
Aisling comments
"Anyhow, I was saying there was a bit of history. And surprisingly, my temple held on to legends of The Sun. This came about my coming of the age, that's why I started digging."
He takes a deep breath, telling something that was the secret of his temple for so long. But now that Sky temple is in The Dark...it needs sharing.
"I've had a vision in this perpetual twilight, the dark cleared for the moment and revealed vast expanse of blue stretching from horizon to horizon. I saw Tears of the Sky and realized that is still a Goddess, weeping for her children, weak, but not dead."
"Now the lore says she is dead." his voice takes a sing-song quality of lore passed through generations
"In those ancient golden days, Sky was the goddess of beautiful blue-teal expanses, filled with the music of birdsong and clouds. Sylphs soared freely, flying alongside their winged kin, the birds. The Sky was their home, and her love for her children was boundless.
Beside her was Sun, Sky’s radiant lover, a goddess of blinding psychic energy and warmth. Together, they embodied freedom, life, and light for all elemental folk."
"Now for more current events, I ended up in inquisitors hands with my group. They were killed and it was my turn next when these fine people saved me."
Aisling nods toward Benedetto and River.
"Last night I dreamt and I got a message through chorus of nightingales. And the message is clear, they are here and waiting and ready. But DO NOT name them so you don't disrupt the balance between The World and The Dream"
He stops for a moment considering should he go for it. And he does even for this small crowd, evangelist will be evangelist.
"I have a dream that one day, the City of Light, now veiled by the Moon's shadow, will shine once more as a beacon of knowledge and artifice, where the Tears of the Sky will nourish our souls and guide our dreams.
This is our hope. This is the faith with which we will return to the Dreamscape. With this faith, we will carve out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will transform the jangling discord of our realm into a beautiful symphony of elemental harmony.
With this faith, we will be able to work together, pray together, struggle together, and stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.
This will be the day when all of Mother Sky's children will be able to sing with new meaning:
'Mother above, free and high, we embrace your endless sky.'
If Sylphs are to be a nation again, this must become The Truth. Cast away yoke of The Volcano, help equally Sylph, Undine, Oread and Ifrit, fight The Dark, but do so to restore our shield, The Sky, The Sun, and even The Moon. Dream this, live this, and The Princes will unite us all in one Dream."
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Gabriel grumbles at the talk of dreams. "We recently escaped the dream world only to end up in the lair of the Cauldron Lady. Neither of those were nice places... So you know of Abn..." Gabe pauses as he considers Aisling's reaction, "I mean, our erstwhile companion, from this dream about Sky and Sun and Dreams? Of course he's still mucking things up in his half alive state."
Gabe's sharp ears pick up on River's comments, "Don't worry about being forced to do anything by Sun. At the moment there's only two adherents and neither Samen nor I are els fond of Dogma. Our transformations were completely voluntary. In fact, I don't think if works if you aren't willing."
Samen nods at everything Gabe says. "We probably should have killed him when we had the chance, if it would've done any good." He sighs heavily, as his wings fade. His previously imposing demeanor is replaced by one of a small, frail, unassuming body bereft of elemental blessing. Only the burns remain. "I suppose I'll add it to the list of my sins against the future."
"Be careful, Aisling, to not be too zealous for Sky. Divine beings have only ever disappointed me when expectation met reality. They're worse sinners than we are. Speaking of which, I must warn you of the Sunlord's over-the-top exuberance come bright. I gather that's an important time of day for Sun, but if you're not prepared he'll make you jump right out of your skin."
"As corrupt as the Dreamscape is right now, we should take this with a grain of salt, but we were trying to fight for Light's freedom when our misadventures brought us here anyway. If you're headed that way too, we could give you a lift, once we're done with Dove."
you see through the crack of an open door on your way out - a large clutch of infant red drakes, oozing about on the vast obsidian floor like a nest of vipers. you sense that if you make any noise, they will follow the sound.
You are overcome by a vision of a caged bird. The vision is so bright you can only see the silhouette of the cage, and the wings. A white, searing light fills your head. The cage is broken.
-you clutch the sides of the wall for a moment as your vision ceases. Once again, a wave of dizziness passes over you, then recedes.
You feel the time of the Phoenix is on the rise. You must remain vigilant.
Benedetto is feeling the exhaustion of the day's activities. Suddenly he staggers, leaning on the wall as a vision overcomes him momentarily. As his vision clears, he shakes his head and blinks. Was the Phoenix trying to tell him something? He wasn't sure, but, well, it seemed best to keep his wits about him. It's hard to focus, though, with the fatigue he's feeling. He hurries to catch up with the group.
They would cause some mischief, then most likely die out. They can't survive very well on their own until they are more scaled and bipedal. You don't know that much about dragon anatomy, but it seems like someone/something is laying dragon eggs, and abandoning them. You seem to remember Dove mentioning a "fire breather" on the council...
Samen continues to struggle with the body. Perhaps it's a metaphor for the fruitless struggle of elenity against the tides of divine whim.
"So, as rousing as that speech was, you didn't exactly specify how you know our out-of-control demigod friend. I can't decide yet whether that was clever distraction or innocent oversight. Care to elaborate?"
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Aisling starts to answer and then notices the threat.
Stopping suddenly, raising his hand he turns to his companions.
"There are volcano drakes beyond this door. If we make noise they might come after us. Proceed carefully, as slow as you can to not make noise."
He whispers to the group
"I did say, I dreamt it. You can interrogate me later."
Benedetto nods silently as he continues to help Samen with the body. Once they were past this point they'd have to talk about what to do with such drakes... perhaps just report it to the uncorrupted authorities, perhaps something more.
Samen quiets himself to be considerate, but has no concern in his voice. "Indeed, they helped us ascend this morning. Rather polite, all things considered. They like a good light show. Still, we should probably let Dove know. They weren't the highest priority this morning, but they might make the list now."
As you walk back up the narrow Temple steps that led to that place of festering wounds and anger, a warm breeze catches you from the north. Surprisingly mild for this season and this time of the day, it reminds you that heat and light can things to strive for, rather than weapons of the Cauldron.
It takes only a few moments for one of Captain Dove's squadron of patrolling Eagles to spot you and wave to you. "We felt the energy from the spell drain and die. Is it..." he looks at the Cauldronslave's body. "You have done it?" Despite the evidence, the guard seems reluctant to believe the good news.
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Unsure of the reception of the group and not willing to repeat the cell experience, Aisling fades into the background behind the bulk of his companions.
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"The Cauldron Lady's slave has been lain low. Her influence on the city should be lessened. The city can start healing now... send your runner." Gabe waits as the soldiers do what they need to. Turning back to the group, "Perhaps we can get some support getting to Light now beyond just 'Good luck'." He considers the events beneath the temple before continuing. "Samen and I are a powerful duo. That said, I'm not sure we could have handled Ibinu and that Gem with just the two of us. At least not as efficiently. Thank you for your assistance. Speaking of efficiancy, you ok over there Samen? You look a little... crispy."
The runner returns, and informs you that Captain Dove will meet you in person at "the inn" in one candle. In a cryptic way, he also tells River and Benedetto that their 'important persons' are being protected there.
"You want to go to Light? I'd like to head back there as well. It's where I was living until... recently. I want to help set things right there, even if I don't quite understand all that you're talking about yet." Benedetto sighs. "Though maybe we *can* have a bit more in-depth discussion before we leave, so see if we can't understand a bit better."