Session 7: Fire and Air¶

The carnival burned. The city prayed to an empty sky. And deep beneath the streets, a lantern answered with fire.

The party arrived at the carnival to find a mob of thirty or forty people tearing it apart. Rocks and torches flew. Carts had been overturned and set alight. The fear that had gripped Nicodranas since the tsunami had turned sour, and the carnival folk were paying the price. Rather than confront the mob head-on, the party threw themselves into putting out fires, hauling water and stamping out embers while the performers fled into the night.

A young Zhelezo constable named Dave Davidson tried to arrest Helga in the confusion -- something about her being a person of interest -- but Shin and Lucien talked him down before it went anywhere. As the crowd dispersed, Lucien overheard people thanking “the sea itself” for saving the city, now that the gods seemed to be gone. The words hit strangely. He felt a flash of something -- a great eye, vast and patient, and a sensation like anticipation. Like something sitting down to a long-awaited meal. The feeling passed, but it did not leave him entirely.

Back at the palace, the party settled into quiet rituals. Alarise prayed alone, burning a piece of the Kuo-Toa finger she had kept, and felt a rare sense of peace. Lucien told his mother about the day -- the fish-folk, the revenant, his frustration with the churches and their grip on the city. She listened, then challenged him: “Philosophers never changed the world.” He did not tell her about Dazz’s quest.

The next morning brought small comforts. Ada warded her room with an Alarm spell. Shin prayed. Helga did squats with Sushi the dog and tried coffee for the first time, declaring it acceptable. Then they descended once more into the Sluiceweave, following ancient Marquesan numerals to the place of power that Dazz had described.

They found the Ley Stone -- an ancient pillar thrumming with energy, the engine that powered the entire Sluiceweave. Brass censers had been placed around it, siphoning its power like straws draining a cup. When Shin lit the magical lantern Dazz had given them, a fire elemental erupted from within -- a roaring tornado of flame that named itself Pyra and reduced the censers to molten slag in seconds.

The response was immediate. An air genasi called Zephyr arrived with a pair of air elementals, and the cavern became a battleground of wind and fire. Pyra tore through one elemental while the party destroyed the other. Zephyr, outmatched, fled into the tunnels. When the dust settled, Pyra remained -- standing guard over the Ley Stone, her flames casting warm light on the ancient carvings.

One of Dazz’s three locations had been dealt with. Two remained. And somewhere in the tunnels above, Zephyr was running to tell someone what had happened.