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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jon Potter" data-source="post: 3244691" data-attributes="member: 2323">[PLAIN][Realms #370] The Next Step[/PLAIN]"My Boots of the Hinterlands are not going to help me 'ere," Karak grumbled, eying the place with a mixture of awe and concern.The heat was insufferable. Shamalin could not remember the last time she felt such discomfort from being hot. During the summers of her youth she had relished even the warmest of days. But this was a different kind of heat - heavy and oppressive. Even breathing seemed painful. How could Huzair be talking so calmly?"How do we get over there?" the wizard asked, eyeing the lava critically. "If we mess up a jump, we are dead." He casually flicked the butt of his latest cigar into the lava where it flashed momentarily into flame before being swiftly consumed.Shamalin shifted uncomfortably and felt beads of sweat roll down her neck. Closing her eyes she prayed that, in spite of the darkness inside her and the fraying chords of her own faith, Flor would enable them to do what they must here and now."What about your jumping bracers, Morier?" Huzair asked. "Can they help you?" Absently, Huzair moved his hands through the somatic components of an Endure Elements spell."I hope so," the eldritch warrior answered grimly and started casting his own Endure Elements.Ayremac began the lengthy task of stripping off his armor. "Karak, if I might bother you to help me. I think I have the most agility here; I'll try to move forward and draw the attention of any "beasties" as you would say." He grinned at the dwarf as Karak began to tug at the man's straps. The dwarf said nothing in reply, but sweat was already streaming down his hirsute features."I won't even make a wise crack about buffing. I do not want to piss off your sword," Huzair observed, testing the temperature of his fluted metal bracer and smiling. Protected by the Endure Elemetns, his warcaster's armor no longer felt hot. "Maybe Stoneblade could give us a suggestion?""CAN ANY OF YOU FLY?" the sword responded flatly. If there was a note of sarcasm in the weapon's voice, it was well hidden.Shamalin sighed as her Protection from Fire spell took hold. It was still almost unbearably hot, but at least her armor wasn't cooking her anymore. She placed her hand fully on Ayremac's chestplate, even as he was struggling to divest it. Resisting the urge to withdraw from the already heated metal, she closed her eyes and reached out to her goddess, bestowing on her friend the ability to Endure Elements. Karak was next."I would love to send Sparky to explore," Huzair was saying, squinting off into the heat haze. "If I cast Detect Magic, it could save us time.""I do nae think that little birdie should fly up there by hisself," Karak huffed and wiped sweat from his brow. "Remember what happened to the poor sprite? Maybe if'n it was invisible..." Huzair considered this but said nothing."Morier, I hate to say it, but I think you should sit back. You are holding a key now and that key needs to be kept safe," Ayremac said, pausing as he untied a leather thong holding his vambrace in position. Now that Shamalin's magic had alleviated the damage of his heating armor, his pace had grown less frantic. "We can't have it sinking to the bottom of a lava floe. Huzair, you have an affinity for this heat-""If you're going to get that armor off, get to it," Morier snapped. "We don't have the luxury of time for you to stand around and tell everyone what you think." The eldritch warrior imbued himself with Bull's Strength, relishing the surge as his muscles swelled with power.Ayremac stopped, dropped his arm guard and turned to square off with Morier. "Do not speak to me in that way again, Morier, and you shall find that I pay you the same respect." He glared at the albino awaiting some acknowledgement that he'd been heard, but Morier just stared back at him."Do not worry, Morier," Huzair stage whispered, elbowing the elf. "I have your back."Shamalin yanked especially hard on a piece of Ayremac's armor and said firmly, "We've got more important things to do right now!" The holy warrior turned to regard her, chagrinned."I have no problem with Morier jumping... but he is not going with that sword. If he falls, is knocked in by some fire elemental, whatever... it would be a catastrophe," he explained. He looked around then at Karak and Huzair, asking, "Am I alone in this?""Alone or not Holy Warrior, I will tell you that he is indeed going and he is indeed taking the sword with him," Morier said angrily. "At this point he is arguably the most fit to get from point A to point B safely, and he will be the only one wearing armor when we get across to whatever hellish beast awaits us. He is not leaving the sword behind, and he damn sure is not staying behind... so unless you are prepared to peel this sword from his cold dead hand, I suggest you shut up and jump!" Ayremac sighed."And I suggest you leave the Elemental Blade. But I am not your mommy, Morier, so you can do what you like," the Officer of Umba said, resigned. "I just hope you don't drop the sword or the world will end.""Morier can do whatever the hell he wants! He can make it," Huzair snapped. "What is to say the monsters aren't going to come and knock us in right here?""Huzair, you bring a lot to this group and your powers are without question, however, your tact is poor and your arguments cause us to all waste energy that could be used for more useful purposes," Ayremac retorted, fixing a withering gaze on the wizard. "Find a way to control your tongue or you may find that someone else takes that control for you.""Enough!" Shamalin said, the magic of her new Circlet of Persuasion adding more weight to her words than she felt capable of mustering alone. "This is neither the time nor the place for this... foolish bickering." Huzair nodded."Let's not waste time arguing," he said, turning invisible. "Let's get there.""I like Ayremac's plan except'n why're we all jumpin'?" Karak asked as he peeled away the holy warrior's pauldron. "Let's make us all impervious to fire then draw them to us. We can fight 'em here and no' risk all jumpin' that way!"It was decided that - Elemental Blade not withstanding - Morier was the best choice to make his way across the lava floe. He wore non-restrictive leather armor plus he had the Armbands of Jumping, Dust of Levitation, and the added Strength of a Bull to aid in his passage. Layered with buffs, he glanced at the others and nodded. "Be ready," he told them. "If you're right, then there's a good chance I'll have company on my tail when I return." Shamalin caught and held his gaze as she approached and laid a final magical ward on him."This will shield you as you advance. Should you need to make an offensive move, the spell will be lost," She explained. Then her voice took on a contemptuous edge and she added, "Perhaps this way you will require fewer of my services later on."During many a long walk with Malcolm in the woods around Hillville Junction, Morier had seen squirrels making unbelievable leaps from branch to branch through the treetops. The little rodents had seemed almost to fly as they moved about the canopy, and that's how Morier felt here as he jumped thirty feet across the stepping stones. Jumping across a lava floe this time was a great deal easier than the last time he'd tried it. He'd managed that time as well, of course, but the magic made it so much easier.If Vade and Ixin had had the benefit of Lela's Levitation Dust, then they'd probably be alive now. As he landed and took a moment to judge the best outcropping of obsidian to choose next, he wondered again what exactly had happened to them. They'd both died somewhere between the entrance to the Grove and the Walk of Air, which meant that they'd failed either the Walk of Fire or the Walk of Earth. Vade, with his short legs, he could easily imagine burning alive in that first lake of fire, but Ixin both had wings and a decent immunity to fire. The Walk of Earth had probably done her in, although he couldn't quite figure out how she might have died in the treant's forest. Perhaps she'd starved to death trying to figure out the password to activate the portal to the Walk of Air. He grimaced and tensed to leap.Starvation was a particularly unpleasant way to die, he imagined.Levitating invisibly overhead, Huzair watched the albino jumping from stepping stone to stepping stone like some kind of freakishly large and pale monkey. Morier always had to do things the hard way, the wizard mused as he moved easily along the ceiling going hand-over-hand. Still, he supposed, it was good that the drow was so quick to rush unthinking into the fray; it left Huzair well out of danger - where any intelligent creature would want to be.This plan had been his and he felt confident that it would succeed.Morier landed lightly only about thirty feet from the obsidian outcropping that held the red glow. He was two jumps away from his goal and paused to glance back the way he'd come. He could barely see Ayremac, Karak and Shamalin some sixty-odd feet away through the haze of heat. They seemed to be ready and he knew enough not to bother looking for Huzair; undoubtedly, the wizard was invisible and hiding somewhere well away from any potential action.He produced the thunderstone from his pouch and tested its weight in his palm. Then, deciding the direction he wanted attention to be attracted, Morier drew back his arm and hurled the alchemical object with all his might. It arced up and came down far to the left striking with a stupendous WHOOMPFF!!! that filled the room with the echoes of distant storm clouds.As the sound reverberated around the chamber, Morier waited for the presumed elemental guardian to appear, but he saw nothing.Huzair had been closer than anyone when the thunderstone went off - not close enough to hurt him any, but it made his ears ring annoyingly, just the same. Still moving diligently forward hand-over-hand toward the far shelf, he scanned the lava for any sign of the fire elemental that they were all expecting as guardian. He was just about to reconsider Morier's idea that maybe the lava was the whole test when a pillar of fire at least thirty feet across rose up around Morier, extending all the way to the ceiling above. Huzair hesitated a moment, considering the column of fire, but it didn't take him long to recognize it as a Wall of Flame shaped so as to trap Morier inside. Doing some quick mental calculations caused his heart to sink into his guts.To generate a Wall of Fire that size meant that they were dealing with a Mage of the 8th Order! (1)-----------------------------------(1) For comparison purposes Huzair is a Mage of the 3rd Order, BTW.</blockquote>

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