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Message: <blockquote data-quote="VicsHacienda" data-source="post: 9819336" data-attributes="member: 6965574">[This was in lieu of Defenders of the Sacred Valley.]<h3>The Aptly-Named Valley of Storms</h3>We board the gigantic craft, and despite its self-lashing of lightning and wind, the ride is smooth. I realize that I have no fear of heights as we rise above the clouds and begin soaring to the east toward the Valley of Storms.So our goals keep piling up like a list of ranch chores. We need to stop the Ragesians. To do so we need an artifact. To get that, we need to find its location and get in. To get that, we need an orb, I think. We also need to stop Caella from doing whatever it is she was doing. I haven't an idea how we latched onto that. She was nervous and strange, and has been revealed to be ready to destroy the world. How do we get these tasks?The Tempest suddenly shudders as the air pressure shifts violently. Our ears pop. Stray lightning crawls across the ship's surface as if nervous.The Valley of Storms is alive, and perhaps it doesn't want visitors.How do we find ourselves in so many places where the very environment is hostile? Fire storms, wind storms, sea storms. Storms all day like chores. And we must brave them and stop them. It's a lot simpler taking down evildoers and foes with arrow shafts.Pilus steadies himself with a hand on a crystalline spine and turns to us. "The Tempest cannot descend further. The gale harmonics would tear it apart. You must go on foot, or the Wind's equivalent. I will hold this storm steady as long as I can."The wind roars as if alive, because of course it does.Descending to the snowy ground, we are surrounded by stinging wind. Small bolts of lightning flash as if dancing in chaotic patterns. Even gravity seems to be confused in places. Snow-laden fir trees tower overhead, while mushrooms grow nearby, the same as which grow in the mountains near Gate Pass. We head toward Caella's laboratory to the east.[ATTACH=full]424880[/ATTACH]As Osnald labors through the snow, a dancing lightning bolt snaps down upon him, nearly knocking him down. He heals himself, slicks down his shocked hair, and moves on. Viggo, ahead of me, begins to slip but catches himself; the slopes downward on either side are treacherous.Trevor gasps, and thrashes as if drowning, then inhales. The air pressure feels weird; the height of the mountain isn't that high as to steal our breath. He casts jump on himself to move faster, and suddenly has to leap aside as a lightning fissure rips downward.I step back to cast longstrider on Osnald, then walk ahead, slipping on the ground. I nearly fall but drop to my knees, catching myself. I curse. Somehow gravity and our footholds are random. I find I am tired of the very landscape being subject to the whims of chaos, and look forward to reliable ground.[ATTACH=full]424881[/ATTACH]Trevor jumps on ahead like a rabbit. Before me Osnald looks around, feeling the lightning build around him again, and scrambles.A cold blue cloud emerges from below, lashing around Fafnir, howling and reaching. A stormlash elemental. Another appears before me, striking with lightning that hurls me backward on the path. A third shape rears up between Viggo, Trevor, and Osnald, a greenish blazing skeletal thing, crackling with power: a tempestborn wraith. Viggo is wracked with lightning, but throws up a shield.[ATTACH=full]424882[/ATTACH]Fafnir steps back and grunts as lightning crackles over him from his elemental assailant. It slams him, and throws him backward near the edge. He then tramps forward, taking another lash from the second monster, to reach the wraith.The air pressure throws me off balance. I sway with vertigo.Trevor uses his boots to back away from the wraith, and uncoils his whip as he moves ahead. He does not want to engage, since the longer we're here, the more perilous the land. As if to prove this point, Osnald begins rising from the ground, thrashing to get back down. He backs away from the wraith and runs toward the distant Trevor, dancing aside from another static charge.I pass the second elemental, snapping two shafts into it as revenge for hurting Fafnir. The Blade of the Resistance keeps my aim true despite the vertigo.Viggo dashes away from the wraith, letting it swing an energy-filled limb at him. He is nearly thrown to the earth by the force of it, even with a quickly-cast absorb elements to reduce its wrath. The wraith's necrotic essence drags at his life force. Angry, he aims a psychic bolt at the creature, then bounces it to the elemental. The wraith freezes, momentarily stunned.The first elemental flashes through the air toward me, sending out a burst of thunder which rolls over me. My ears ring, deafened. The second elemental approaches and slams me with energy. I skid backward but hold my ground.Fafnir, next to the stunned wraith, hauls out Einherjar and wallops it, the hammerhead trailing wisps of electricity as it sails through. The creature's static echo crackles loudly around the cleric, making him blink. He moves away.We need to leave. Deaf and dizzy, I disengage from the trio of things and stagger forward until I bump into Fafnir's back. Osnald races ahead, boosted by longstrider, and joins Trevor over the ridge. Viggo joins him, followed by his familiar.The stormlash elementals surge forward at us, catching up. Two more peals of thunder slam into both of us. My ears pop painfully, suddenly able to hear. The wraith rises into the air and closes, and phases into a column of electric rage.My friend growls in anger, and spirit bulls emerge from him in a dome. He pulls away to let the creatures swipe at him instead of me. I'm touched, but he doesn't need to protect me. I duck and weave, running toward him. We leave the monsters behind.</blockquote>

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