Kay’s Journal – 8/19
We’re back in the underground passages. We open the door to the next area and are greeted with a pleasant breeze, somewhat humid, like it’s coming off a lake or something. The wind whips up as we step into the room. CornCob and Abran go first.
We get to a room so large it seems like a wide-open space with liquid rather than a floor. There are stone pedestals floating in the air. One of the pedestals has a large creature that appears to be nesting. Pujol and CornCob think they recognize it as a hippogriff.
There’s a platform in the middle of the area that appears to be constructed, rather than natural stone shapes like the pedestals. There’s no easy way to cross to the platform – we would need to fly or swim. The water doesn’t seem to have a current or flow. It’s very clear, and has nary a ripple – the wind, strong as it is, doesn’t seem to affect the surface of the water.
Fathom spots a few tiny ripples in the water. The surface moves, stops, and grows clear again. She thinks the water is very deep, maybe hundreds of feet. She pokes it with her staff, and the staff end comes back charred. Right. No swimming.
CornCob chucks a silver piece into the water. It sinks; he loses sight of it quickly, but it leaves a bit of a shimmery path as it goes.
Fathom uses her staff to transfer some water to where we are standing. It sizzles when it hits the stone.
The next island is 25, maybe 30 feet away and 10 or so feet above us.
Fathom pours some water from her decanter into the pool. The water spits and sizzles. Yup. This isn’t water, it’s acid.
The constructed platform is about 70 feet away. There’s writing on it that looks vaguely elvish, but is old Lizardfolk.
I look around with the goggles. The floating pedestals are magically held aloft. There’s also magic on the surface of the acid; it seems to be what’s suppressing the ripples and almost seems to be holding it in place. The center platform is definitely magical, and there’s a glow of magic coming from the hippogriff’s nest.
Gooseneck holds up the key and shouts for the door to open. He adds keywords – ‘smoke’ and ‘mist’. The central platform lights up. Good?
Not good. I see a wave of magical mist poof out like someone stepped there. It moves in our direction. The hippogriff wakes up, and stands. Air elementals get pulled up from the surface of the pool. We think the words were wrong, and now we’re being attacked.
I fly over to one of the pedestals. Gooseneck shouts to the hippogriff to ask for help. It does not look impressed. Abran shoots at the air elemental and hits it, but the poison from hit bow doesn’t affect it. It still takes the regular damage from the arrow, though.
I see the color of the platform has changed.
Pujol tells Abran to move back so that he can continue to fire without being in front to meet the enemy. CornCob casts a protective spell on himself and calls his spiritual weapon. The weapon swings at it, and hits. Fathom gets out the talisman from the djinn and tries to make contact. She backs up behind Gooseneck.
The air elementals are fast. The smaller one flies at me and knocks me off the pedestal. The big one goes to the rest of the group. A third one forms in front of the hippogriff.
Pujol runs to the back of the group with Fathom, and casts a protection spell for the group.
I go to the central platform. When I land, it starts lighting up, but seems to be waiting for something specific to activate it. Gooseneck tells Fathom to cast Fly on him. He holds out the key again and this time, says all three words – obsidian, smoke, mist. That seems to get the hippogriff’s attention, but the elementals keep attacking. Abran shoots the big elemental again.
The hippogriff flies to Gooseneck and offers him a large egg of swirling colors. The elemental attacks me. Gooseneck takes the egg and flies to the platform. When he lands, the platform changes colors again. He sees a hollow on the platform where the egg would fit. Abran shoots the elemental he’s been firing at, and it dissipates.
CornCob and Fathom cast spells at the elemental that’s on the platform with Gooseneck. The elemental attacks Gooseneck; the other one attacks CornCob and hurts him. Pujol tries to cast a wall of thorns on the platform without hitting Gooseneck, but the magic of the platform prevents it from taking hold.
Gooseneck tries to put the egg in the slot, but the presence of the elemental prevents it from going in. So, he hits the elemental with his axe. Abran shoots it, CornCob casts a spell at it, and Pujol tries to hedgehog it. After all that, it finally dissipates.
With the elementals gone, Gooseneck puts the egg into the slot. The platform activates. It turns and spirals down, creating a staircase going down. That’s the way out.
