The rest of the Circle had already made their way to the docks as I settled accounts. The men that the Ocean Father's High Priest had sent to me were waiting just outside.
"Knife of the Ocean?" the one that looked like a priest asked. I looked at them squarely. The priest looked like what one would expect of a savant and looked like he could not defend himself from a thug with a knife. The two monks and the corsairs however looked quite buff and imposing. They were carrying their packs. The young priest had some sort of alchemical equipment and things that looked like they were used to make wards and the like. I doubted he could have carried all of it.
Noticing that I was just going to walk to the docks the priest looked striken. I flashed another grin and picked up his heaviest packs and slung them over my shoulder, much to the astonishment of the monks. "Let's go, I trust that the high priest has briefed you on us and that you are all conversant in Old Realm..."
I hear a few affirmative grunts from the men and I lead the way to the ship. We board the Midday Shadow to confer as we head to the island where the Arc of First Light is secretly docked. We decide that we need to investigate the volcanic disturbances as soon as possible especially since we are now capable of exploring their depths.
We agreed to make a short run south and we can investigate the problem in Solid Shell on our way back to Coral especially since we want Akira with us. We moved all the cargo and metals to the Arc and had Peleps Nuada bring it to the Island. We used the Iron Gauntlet under Eurupedes to take us innocously to the island. Akira soon joined us bringing with her a new form. She took an almost obscene joy toying with people in her new colorful parrot form. She did this from on Naar or my shoulders.
We arrived on Prodigal Lava Brother's island uneventfully. However, upon arriving there we could feel the almost obscene invasion of a Wyld Zone and something... wrong. We sent the ship back and we landed using a bridge of solid water. A squad of marines accompanied us.
We made our way quickly up to the mountain and met with the volcano god. He looked weak and sickly if a god of his stature could be said to look weak. The Wyld energies were having an adverse effect on him. We greeted him but he did not greet us with the same strength and enthusiasm he used to have.
As the rest of the the Circle made camp with the marines, I asked Lava Brother to lead me to the device. It was the first time I used my new charms on a truly hazardous environment. As I dove into the lava, I felt calm and contented as if the Unconquered Sun himself sheltered me. I also had this strange urge to look for food. It was quite a ways in, I can imagine the previous Solars doing this personally and almost felt their touch in the walls around me.
The volcano god finally led me towards the center of the caldera. In the heart of the volcano, I saw this strange orb. It looked vaugely like the Globe of Precious Stability only much larger. It's covered with red Jade plates for Essence collectors and looks like the Essence is brought to the core and out tunnels of green Jade. Orichalcum and Moonsilver make up most of the core at first changing then forcing into relative stability the wild elemental Essence it collects.
This could be the source of the volcanic fertility that these islands of the southwest have. My vague memories of an earlier age say that this is indeed true. Apparently, the Wyld Zones seem to have been caused by yet another imbalance perhaps because of the overabundance of wood Essence around. The protrusions seem to track these imbalances and they move around with the Essence release dissipating overly concentrated threads and properly diffusing it over a wide zone.
Some of these protrusions are quite stuck and not properly diffusing the Essence and in fact warping some of the Essence. I conversed with the members of my Circle via the enchanted tattoos Akira put on our bodies. We agreed that we had to move this thing up to get it repaired.
Then, I discovered something more sinister. There was a rather thick ... rope of dark necrotic Essence coming from the north-northeast of this location. I asked Akira to fly out and check the area surrounding the island. She confirmed my suspicions about the Essence and that they lead into the Skullstone Archipelago. They have tainted the waters and life that the volcanic essence feeds into something from the Underworld.
Upon querying Lava Brother, he mentioned that Akasha was responsible for some changes to the device recently. He mentioned she looked... different somehow. I wonder... if those mercenaries that Naar hired in Coral ever came back with news about her. It's been more than a year. I wonder why she never contacted us if it was indeed her. Well, we'll find out more when we return to Coral.
I started to push the thing upward. I discovered however that this was no easy task despite my more than ample strenth. I had to move to avoid the moving protrusions which meant I had to move my hands and shift my grip each time the protrusions moved to where I was holding it like some elaborate dance. In the end, it took me three long and boring days to bring it up.
Meanwhile, Akira was rather busy scouting out the surrounding islands for sea shells, fish, and tropical fruits and herbs. She was bored enough to attempt brewing them into something. And apparently, she brewed something amazing. It was a tonic that helped cool the body making it immune to a certain degree of heat. It would be great for mortals working in shipyards. Also, she managed to mix it with our concoction from Iron Palm nuts. It was a cooling and intoxicating drink put together.
Drifter took a quick look at the device and said he could fix it. I thought we would be staying for a while but Drifter with Naar's help and me and Snowstorm lifting and turning the thing around so he could fix it he took only one whole day. He got it whizzing and whirring in full power.
It took me another three days to get it back to it's proper position and I noticed that it even absorbed most of the necrotic Essence and dissipated it into wood Essence. Most, but not all. We need to figure out another way to siphon off the Essence of the Underworld. But that is a problem for another day.
This could be the source of the volcanic fertility that these islands of the southwest have. My vague memories of an earlier age say that this is indeed true. Apparently, the Wyld Zones seem to have been caused by yet another imbalance perhaps because of the overabundance of wood Essence around. The protrusions seem to track these imbalances and they move around with the Essence release dissipating overly concentrated threads and properly diffusing it over a wide zone.
Some of these protrusions are quite stuck and not properly diffusing the Essence and in fact warping some of the Essence. I conversed with the members of my Circle via the enchanted tattoos Akira put on our bodies. We agreed that we had to move this thing up to get it repaired.
Then, I discovered something more sinister. There was a rather thick ... rope of dark necrotic Essence coming from the north-northeast of this location. I asked Akira to fly out and check the area surrounding the island. She confirmed my suspicions about the Essence and that they lead into the Skullstone Archipelago. They have tainted the waters and life that the volcanic essence feeds into something from the Underworld.
Upon querying Lava Brother, he mentioned that Akasha was responsible for some changes to the device recently. He mentioned she looked... different somehow. I wonder... if those mercenaries that Naar hired in Coral ever came back with news about her. It's been more than a year. I wonder why she never contacted us if it was indeed her. Well, we'll find out more when we return to Coral.
I started to push the thing upward. I discovered however that this was no easy task despite my more than ample strenth. I had to move to avoid the moving protrusions which meant I had to move my hands and shift my grip each time the protrusions moved to where I was holding it like some elaborate dance. In the end, it took me three long and boring days to bring it up.
Meanwhile, Akira was rather busy scouting out the surrounding islands for sea shells, fish, and tropical fruits and herbs. She was bored enough to attempt brewing them into something. And apparently, she brewed something amazing. It was a tonic that helped cool the body making it immune to a certain degree of heat. It would be great for mortals working in shipyards. Also, she managed to mix it with our concoction from Iron Palm nuts. It was a cooling and intoxicating drink put together.
Drifter took a quick look at the device and said he could fix it. I thought we would be staying for a while but Drifter with Naar's help and me and Snowstorm lifting and turning the thing around so he could fix it he took only one whole day. He got it whizzing and whirring in full power.
It took me another three days to get it back to it's proper position and I noticed that it even absorbed most of the necrotic Essence and dissipated it into wood Essence. Most, but not all. We need to figure out another way to siphon off the Essence of the Underworld. But that is a problem for another day.
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