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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jon Potter" data-source="post: 3418586" data-attributes="member: 2323">[PLAIN][Realms #388] The Test of Air, part 1[/PLAIN]As was the plan, they sat down in the chamber for another day's rest before entering the portal. Never mind the fact that they'd all been awake for only a few hours; no one was willing to brave the next challenge with anything less than their full arsenal at hand.Shamalin Created Food & Water for them and everyone settled down to discuss tactics and tend to their gear. Everyone except Shamalin, that is; she occupied herself with painstakingly examining the carvings on the wall."Well, it seems an elfie 'as already performed these tasks at some time," Karak grumbled, looking over at the fresco the cleric was examining. "It seems the next one be we all floatin' in air." Ayremac stretched his pinions."I think my wings will come in handy here," the holy warrior said with an expectant smile. Karak glanced up at him and harrumphed."That do nae help the rest o' us, laddie," the dwarf shorted. "I have me Ring o' Feather Fallin', but I do nae think it can keep us all from fallin' if there be naught but empty air beyond tha' portal.""We have got the pixie dust," Huzair reminded as he re-lit the stump of a cigar he'd found in one of his pockets. "That aught to help us.""Excellent thought, Huzair," Ayremac nodded. "I think a splash of pixie dust before going through might well be in order. Then I can move you guys around a bit, if needed, with my wings.""Aye," Karak agreed, stroking his beard thoughtfully. "I think the pixie dust be a good idea, too. I do think when we enter we will surrounded by air. But with the pixie dust or spells I think we can maneuver.""Should I take the Ring of Invisibility, Huzair?" Ayremac asked. "I could run for the Key while you deal with any enemy... if there is a problem or something unexpected, I could return.""Hmmm," Huzair said while he thought, rubbing the crescent-shaped scar on the top of his head. The wizard was eager to show off his prowess in battle to impress the party so he was more agreeable to the suggestion than he otherwise might have been. He hated parting with his ring, but it seemed like a good plan... if Ayremac had the right skills. "Can you Detect Magic?""No. But I can Detect the presence of Evil," the Officer of Umba offered."How about removing traps?" Huzair asked. "Are you any good at that?""No, I-" Ayremac began and Morier cut him off."Huzair if you don't want to part with your precious ring, then just say so!" he snapped. "Inventing obstacles to somehow justify your own greed makes you look foolish.""No, Morier. I think Huzair brings up a good point," Ayremac said diplomatically. "I can't Detect Magic and if the Key is trapped, I am pretty much in Umba's hands.""See?" Huzair said to Morier, indicating Ayremac with a casual waive of his hand."So far, there have not been any traps on the Keys, has there?" the holy warrior asked."No," Morier told him, his eyes still fixed on Huzair. The wizard grinned and exhaled a cloud of smoke in the eldritch warrior's face."Fine," he said petulantly and pulled the ring from his hand. He tossed it to Ayremac adding, "Just don't lose it.""I recognize some of these symbols," Shamalin explained later once she'd finished her examination of the reliefs. She pointed at a series of carvings that ran around the base of the larger images that seemed to depict the elf from the main panels traveling a long distance. "This is the symbol for "East" in elvish and here it is in Hightongue as well. But I don't recognize this rune here.""Tha' be the dwarven rune for "East" as well," Karak told her. "Mayhap it tells us where to go to find Dridana's Heart. East into the mountains."Huzair elbowed Morier and muttered, "I didn't know the dwarf could read."Morier rolled his eyes disapprovingly."See how in this bit along the bottom his scimitar is always surrounded by these repeating symbols. Each one corresponds to the same symbol in each of the four larger carvings. Earth. Fire. Water. Air," Shamalin went on, pointing to the smaller symbols and then to the same device in the main carvings. "But then here it shows him losing the scimitar and taking up a gemstone.""Dridana's Heart," Morier sighed and Shamalin nodded."I think so," she said. "But I also think that in order to get it, we'll have to give up the elemental blades.""ALL THINGS PASS IN THEIR TIME," Stoneblade roared. "SUCH IT IS WITH THE WORLD AND SUCH IT IS WITH WE ELEMENTAL SCIONS!""We are the keys to freeing her heart," Flameblade crackled at Huzair's hip. "We are but sparks of Dridana's full divinity.""IT IS OUR PURPOSE TO RELEASE THOSE SPARKS AND FREE HER!" Waveblade thundered. "AND THOUGH IT BE OUR UNDOING WE ARE GLAD FOR IT!""THE WHEEL TURNS EVER ONWARD!" the three scions said with one voice. "AS DRIDANA RISES ABOVE SO WILL APHYX BE CRUSHED BENEATH! IT IS THE WAY OF ALL THINGS!"DAY SIX IN THE ELEMENTAL NODESIn the morning, Huzair distributed the Dust of Levitation and then cast Mark of Fire on himself. "Now would be a good time to buff," he said to Morier, but the eldritch warrior was already casting a spell and Huzair watched as the albino's muscles swelled with a Bull's Strength. He winked at the wizard and Huzair grinned. "You are learning," he said."I say we enter an' dispatch the rest of these elementals!" Karak growled, his hand tight around his waraxe. "Let's be done with this place. We still have Dridana's heart to free!""Work, work, work," Huzair groused as he started in casting False Life on himself."I'll go first," Ayremac told them, activating the Ring of Invisibility and disappearing. "With Umba's blessing," he said and stepped through the black doorway.One by one the others followed.As with the previous portals a wave of energy coursed through Ayremac's body as he passed through. His vision blurred momentarily and he had the familiar but unsettling sensation of falling rapidly. Suddenly his senses snapped back to normal and he found himself standing and slowly sinking into a large, circular cloud adrift in an endless sky. The cloud's surface was yielding but firm enough to support his weight. Silvery runes puffed and shifted along its contour marking the spot that would return them to the elemental hub once he found the Key.He craned his neck, searching his surroundings for any sign of it. Clear blue sky extended in every direction, with no sign of a land mass below. A soft breeze billowed about the cloud, tousling the holy warrior's platinum hair. Similar clouds doted the sky in random places, while larger, thicker clouds lay overhead. There was a sameness to everything, a uniformity of shapes and colors that defied the eye to linger long on any one thing.Then he spotted it.One particular cloud caught his gaze - the largest cloud in sight, easily spanning 80 feet across and glowing with a silver lining. The silver lined cloud hung in the air, 100 feet above him.Karak appeared suddenly beside him and Ayremac said, "Be ready. I'm going for the key." Then he spread his wings and took invisibly to the sky.One by one the others materialized on the cloud and looked around. None could see Ayremac of course, but it was pretty obvious where he'd likely gone once they spotted the glowing cloud high above them. For a moment, there was no sign of opposition, and Ixin tugged at Huzair's arm, pointing to a smallish cloud 15 feet off to the side and 75 feet or so below them."Ocuir!" she said. "Kosjirthos sjach." Huzair followed her outstretched claw and saw what the drakeling had. Half-embedded in the cloud below them was a small black speck that as he stared at it resolved itself into a humanoid shape. It was utterly still and made entirely of metal, looking like an adamantine statue or a suit of full plate armor. At this distance he couldn't tell which."What does she see?" Shamalin asked the wizard, but before Huzair could answer Karak bellowed, "Here they come!"The dwarf shouted, pointing upward where winged shapes - a half-dozen or more - were rapidly descending from various points above. All were plainly converging on the group clustered below.Ayremac saw the creatures. They were small in size, little bigger than a halfling, with tiny bat-like wings on their backs. Their flesh was white as the clouds around them and below the waist their bodies became a roiling funnel of dust that trailed off behind them as they flew. They came at him, moving just as quickly as he and with a great deal more grace, and it was a narrow thing that he managed to dart out of their way as they passed.Even so, two of the creatures stopped - they didn't slow down, they simply stopped - and both looked in his direction squinting their eyes and snarling. The other six continued on, bearing down rapidly on his companions clustered on the cloud below.</blockquote>

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