No Good Deed Goes Unpunished.

12/21/2013

10, Sedulous, Dragon's Agitation, 190th Kings Age

Cyrus appeared in a hidden area in the Black Spine Mountains. A place where he had often retreated to to meditate in private. He began using clairvoyance to locate the rest of the group.
Meanwhile, the sandstorm passed and Ren, Yaotl, Aziza, Basheera, Alroy, Jabrek, and Tubaloth moved on.
A couple hours later, Ren and Alroy heard some strange, wicked, sounding laughter. Ren halted the group. He then activated psionic camouflage and move slowly around the rocks toward the laughter. He peeked around a large boulder, where saw three curious creatures. Two were small and gaunt, with large, pointed ears, and sleek long faces. Their hands were clawed, small wings and a tail sprouted from their back. The were sandy colored. The other creature was a small, red lizard with a large mouth and thick tail.
The sandy colored monsters were dipping the red lizards head into a small basin of silt. Then, the red lizard would struggle to breath and the little monsters would pull it out and laugh, as it coughed up silt. They would poke it with their long, sharp, claws and kick at it also. Then, they would do it again, laughing as they tortured the creature.

Let's play a game!

They didn't notice Ren, as he waved Yaotl over. Yaotl moved slowly, making sure not to be seen. However, unlike Ren, he knew what the creatures where. The sandy colored creatures were from the paraelemental plane of silt, called mephits. the red lizard was from the plane of fire, it was called a flamling. Yaotl became enraged at seeing the silt creatures torture the fire creature. He drew his scimitar and charged.

The mephits were caught unaware and Yaotl slashed once of them across the chest. It screamed out in pain and dropped the flameling. Ren responded by attempting to activate accelerate. The hurt mephit clawed at Yaotl, but he was able to block the attacks with his shield. The other mephit mumbled something incoherent and the silt in the area coalesced into a silt elemental. Aziza drew her tortoise blades and positioned Tubaloth, Alroy, and Jabrek around Basheera. She instructed them to protect her with their lives.
Ren tried again to activate accelerate and this time, he succeeded. Yaotl slashed at the mephit again, but could see that it was slowly healing from the wounds. Aziza rushed into the battle. The elemental lumbered forward and engaged Yaotl, attempting to crush him with it's fists. One of the mephits blew a wave of silt at Yaotl, but he dodged out of the way. The other attacked with its claws, this time, it scored a hit. Cyrus finally located the party.

Ren ran forward and beat one of the mephits into dust. Aziza attacked the other, slashing is across the back and severing one of it's wings. As, it reeled from the shock of being attacked from behind, Yaotl swung his scimitar and decapitated it. The elemental threw itself at Yaotl and began sliding into his nose and mouth, attempting to smother him.

Cyrus rushed over to the fighting. Yaotl activated psionic flight and attempted to fly away from the elemental, but it held him by his mouth and nose, the silt ripping open his skin. Aziza backed off and cast magic missile. It seemed to damage the elemental, but not very much. Ren could see the silt mephit attempting to reform themselves, so he dumped a half gallon of precious water onto one of the dust piles. He noticed that the reforming had slowed.
"We need to put water on these things!" He shouted to Aziza.
Yaotl pulled away from the silt elemental, vomiting the thing up, along with his own blood. Ren did not have anyway to harm the creature, so he fled back to Alroy and the others. Aziza cast magic missile again, but that was the last combat spell she had memorized. Cyrus cast magma jet at the elemental, but it passed right through, causing it no harm.
"I'm done!" Aziza shouted, "I can't hurt it!"

"Scatter it to the four winds!" Yaotl sputtered to Cyrus.

Yaotl began summoning a fire elemental and Cyrus began summoning an air elemental. Aziza emptied her water-skin onto the mephit. The precious gallon of water stopped the creature from regenerating. Ren gathered the others and began leading them out of the area and away from the fighting.

Cyrus and Yaotl continued to cast as the silt elemental turned it's attention to Cyrus. The elemental swung it's great arm, but Cyrus dodged the blow. Aziza ran back to the kinks and filled her water-skin. Ren lead the others in a wide arc, making sure Basheera remained surrounded and protected.

Cyrus and Yaotl finished their summoning spells and two elementals appeared, one fire, the other air. Aziza ran back and dumped the gallon of water on the mephit that was still regenerating. It ceased to heal and was destroyed. The silt elemental struck Cyrus, wounding him.

Yaotl, Cyrus, and Aziza fell back, while Yaotl and Cyrus commanded their elementals to attack the silt elemental. The elementals clashed with one another and soon the silt elemental was destroyed. Yaotl thanked the fire elemental for its help and dismissed it. Cyrus dismissed his without a word.

Yaotl picked up the flameling and pet it gently, reassuring it that is was alright and he would not hurt it. The flameling seemed to understand and accept his help.

He won't scratch up your couch, although he might set it on fire.

The group packed up and march out, anxious to get away from the area. They marched until sunset and Ren found a safe place to camp. Yaotl pulled Cyrus aside, away from the rest of the group.
"How did you call a wind elemental?" Yaotl asked, perplexed.

Cyrus sighed, "I don't know. Lately I haven't been tied to just water. I am tied to all of the elements."

"You should be careful, the power might be being stolen from our Elemental Lords, the way Templars cast spells." Yaotl warned.

Cyrus nodded, "I will give that some thought."

Cyrus went on to explain that his teleport had failed and sent him somewhere else. He told of a fierce battle, where Gahiji and Arabella were captured, despite his best efforts to prevent it. They went back to camp, where Jabrek and Tubaloth wept for their lost friend and Aziza wept for the slave they freed, only to lose.
Yaotl started a fire and his flameling glided off his should to snuggle up inside of it. Yaotl watched it for awhile, then turned in himself. Everyone soon laid down to sleep, with Ren keeping watch. The night passed quietly.

11, Sedulous, Dragon's Agitation, 190th Kings Age

In the morning, with the fire out, the flameling went through Yaotl's backpack and was attempting to remove the stopper on Yaotl's lamp oil. Perplexed, Yaotl took the bottle and poured some of the oil onto concave rock. I flameling drank the oil. He continued until all the oil was gone.
As Yaotl was going through his bag, he found the wind ball that Tamar had given him.
Aziza perked up upon seeing it, "Why don't we see if Tamar can get Arabella and Gahiji?"

Everyone thought that was a great idea, so Yaotl called the genie. He appeared in a much less dramatic fashion and the group made their request. Tamar agreed to look for them and bring them back, if he could. He handed Yaotl a bottle and told him to hold it. He turned into a cloud of mist and disappeared.
Ren could see that the bottle said "Drink Me" in Dwarven script, but Cyrus could clearly see that is said "Drink Me" in trade tongue. Yaotl refused to let either drink from the bottle. He packed it away and the group marched toward the unnamed village.

Four hours later, the group encountered a few dozen Nikaal and their pack kanks. Yaotl bought a few things, but quickly ran out of money. The Nikaal turned their interest to Ren, once they discovered that he was carrying the groups money. The sold him two large tents, some nice breeches, and a couple of good quality cloaks with hoods. The Nikaal wanted to keep trading, offering food and wine, but the group declined and moved on.

While they walked, Ren kept trying to convince Yaotl to drink from the bottle that Tamar had given him. Yaotl refused over and over again. Cyrus also tried to convince Yaotl to let them drink it, but not as fervently as Ren.

Looks Legit.

They settled down to camp, with Ren keeping watch. They had found a quiet place, above most of the surrounding landscape, to camp. Half way through the night, a small whirlwind appeared. It quickly faded and Ren could see Tamar had returned. With him were Gahiji and Arabella, who looked tired and worn.

Aziza rose and ran to Arabella, hugging her tightly. Arabella wept slightly and Aziza told her that she would be alright. Tubaloth and Jabrek were thrilled to see their friend, Gahiji, and warmly embraced him. Ren and Yaotl spoke with Tamar, who was obviously pleased with himself. He asked them if they had drank the bottle. Yaotl replied no and Tamar told them they could.
Tamar admitted that the wind ball they carried allowed him to spy on him and he was pleased that they had freed slaves on their travels. Ren remarked that all creatures should be as free as the wind. Tamar agreed.

He told them to pack their things and he would help them get to the unnamed village. They packed up and Tamar called a great whirlwind, which carried all of them to the unnamed village. He then gifted them with a wagon that was made of air and invisible. The group thanked him and showered him with praise, which Tamar mocked embarrassment, but was obviously enjoying it.

He invited them back to his estate on the plane of air. They agreed and were taken to his manor house, which was built on a floating chunk of elemental earth. The group was shocked and in awe of the nothingness around the island of earth. The manor itself was made of compressed smoke, which also impressed the group.

Tamar fed them a feast and introduced his twelve wives, but no one in the party could remember all of their names. Tamar insisted they drink from the magic bottle he had given them. They did and found that is had a profound effect upon them. They were better for it and thanked Tamar, who once again feigned humility.