Everything Is On Fire!

Alae! Mystra órava omessë! What have we found ourselves in now…
The morning began normal enough, as after my elvish lesson during breakfast, we packed our things to search for signs of the apparitions that Andrik had described to us, while the druid would tend to our mounts. It did not take long before our noses warned us that something was afoot ahead. The smell of burned wood and foliage led us as quietly as we could muster to a small clearing at the edge of the forest. In front of us, one of the oddest sights I have encountered thus far was presenting itself. Several tiny, vaguely humanoid winged creatures that seemed to be made entirely of magma and flame were scattered around and setting several bushes on fire, seemingly led by a slightly larger figure of dwarven built but shining skin the colour of hammered bronze and with their head engulfed in flames! As Grum later confirmed, this was one of these azers with a cohort of mephits that seemed determined to burn down the vegetation one branch at a time. Behind them, emitting a flickering red glow, a tear in reality itself opened and showed a tunnel seemingly hewn in red rock.
In an attempt to avoid a perhaps unnecessary confrontation I deemed it best to first at least try to talk to these creatures as they clearly were driven by more than pure instinct. However, my call to halt in their arson was only met with wide grins on smouldering faces before they started swarming us. I managed to distract some of them with a pattern of swirling shapes and colours whilst Kyla and Teynos already pummelled the first of the mephits into the ground, although Teynos quickly ripped his helmet from his head. Yet the others were soon upon us, and we came to the painful realisation that wearing any metal items around creatures covered in writhing flame was a rather hot experience. Despite their red glowing armour, Teynos and Nysqwen did not cease their blows to the swarming mephitis as Grum unleashed a fountain of churned earth in their midst that instantly took out one of the small creatures. Meanwhile, I flung another spell against the dwarven figure. It still is far from comfortable but if this damn heritage courses through my veins I may well make use of it if it can help protect myself and the others. A few lowly whispered words that I knew would only reach the ears they were meant for in the infernal tongue were enough to at least momentarily send the azer running back through the portal from whence they presumably came.
Even though we did a formidable job at fighting back the mephitis, every time one of them fell they exploded in a spray of molten rock and flame. Still, despite their final outlash we eventually manged to defeat the remaining foes, after which Teynos immediately ran straight through the portal with no further regards for its potential dangers. With a half angry, half concerned cry, Nysqwen, the rage of the battle still burning bright in her eyes, darted after him. Thankfully, mere moments later both of them re-emerged from the rift, unharmed it seemed but with a visible crown of sweat beads on Teynos’s forehead. He explained that there was a tunnel on the other side, slightly carved upwards, through red volcanic stone that potentially ended in another cave. The most noticeable thing though was the extreme heat of which we could feel some in the proximity of the portal even on our side. Dry as Irakin’s humour it streamed through the tear, slightly singing the grass where the transition met the ground.
After a brief discussion, much to Kyla’s dismay, we agreed to venture through the portal to uncover where the azer had vanished towards. An investigation of the clearing unveiled that amongst the singed grass there was some scattered ash that looked fresh enough that the morning dew had not caked it together to a grey mass and showed traces of having been disturbed as if someone was looking for something. Kyla discovered that while there were no other traces of magic in our immediate vicinity, the portal seemed to have its origin in some divine magic, albeit one that was rather alien to her. With only more questions than before we left our camp this morning, we ventured forth through the portal.
The heat was excruciating. I am not one to shy away from a fire if ever there is one around, quite the contrary. And while bright daylight makes certain tasks more difficult, I could spend hours just bathing in the afternoon sun on the rooftops of Neverwinter in the late days of Flamerule. But this was different. The air was perfectly still, not a single gust would have brought relief from the oppressive temperature and in an instant, I could feel every inch of leather that snuck by the cloth underneath chafe away at sweat-soaked skin.
On this side of the rift, we were now standing in a small chamber that appeared to have been carved from the mountain around us. The portal stood open in its centre. Across the room was an opening into the corridor that Nysqwen and Teynos had seen earlier. A bright red glow shone from its other end and the heat grew more potent in its proximity. Grum was the first to discover that the tunnel was lined with shallow alcoves containing humanoid skulls engulfed in lazily flickering flames. We began our way through this ominous corridor yet before we had made it fully into its mouth, the flames around two of the skulls turned from red to green and suddenly we found ourselves engulfed in roaring flame. Were it not for Kyla’s quick reflexes, protecting Teynos from the brunt of the impact of the inferno, things might have turned sour very quickly. As the flames subsided, I empowered Nysqwen with arcane speed, recalling her effectiveness the last time we encountered enemies like this in a certain mine just before getting our hands temporarily on one particularly nasty spider. Between the ferocious dragonborn and Teynos, the first of the two skulls was quickly vanquished. It crashed to the ground where its green glow faded to an almost imperceivable shine. Learning from our past encounters, Kyla was quick to remove its last cling to life before she turned to the next one which just hit Teynos with an array of blueish bolts straight into the chest. Grum conjured a spectral form, quite similar to one he also liked using, of a giant toad that bathed us all in a soothing cool light, refreshing our bodies and reinvigorating our spirits. Maybe a little bit too invigorating, as Kyla seemed so eager to swing her mace at the remaining skull, she misjudged the distance and instead caught the tip of my right horn! Thank the gods I never liked the damn things too much anyways, this will take a while to regrow. Luckily, Grum was on the ball, shattering the skull underneath his wooden cudgel right as Kyla snuffed the magical spark that would cause it to rise again.
In the silence that followed the fight between heavily indrawn breaths through already dry lips, I wondered aloud if Grum would know anything about the stone around us. This looked very much like how I would imagine the inside of an active volcano except for the clearly built structures of the tunnel and alcoves around us. Mount Hotenow of course was not too far from where we just explored the forest, but something seemed somehow off about this place. Unfortunately, Grum, Mystra bless him, is hard to stop in his lectures once unleashed so it took several minutes to exhaust his monologue about different minerals that he apparently could clearly see in the stone around us followed by explanations about something that sounded like techonics which sounded very complicated. The only thing it did not explain was where we were. Sure, in some form of volcano and there were hints of copper veins and other metallic shimmers along the walls, but nothing more enlightening than that. He knew however that azers are one of the many denizens of the elemental plane of fire, renown for their masterful smithing skills even amongst the dwarves.
Teynos wandered a small stretch ahead towards what we could now see to be a large cavern alight from a slowly moving stream of lava that had collected into a pond. Three other tunnels diverged from the cavern. From our position it was impossible to tell what he was up to, but he seemed to be talking to someone or someone on the opposite end. Looking around my friends who were all slightly singed and breathing heavily in this strange environment, I decided it was time for a bit of shelter and perhaps a slightly more comfortable shelter. As so many times before, I thus began weaving the sheltering walls of music around our small group although this time I tried to hurry more than I usually would, given the unknown dangers of this place. The unfortunate thing about music in all its beauty is that it wants to be heard and it can be difficult to control whose ears a melody might reach. I had just started my little incantation as a band of mephitis rose right from the bubbling molten rock and started flying towards us. Again, Grum managed to conjure a pillar of rock from the ground that these creatures covered, killing two of them mid-air, then my attention drifted as I had to focus on what I was attempting. A burning pain along my leg almost tore me from my task as a brief look down revealed a bright red glow from my trusted rapier and without letting the notes escape, I managed to tear off my belt and continue the conjuration of our tiny musical dome. As soon as the last note left my lips, I turned around to shout to the others to seek cover but all I saw was Nysqwen and Teynos just finishing off an azer while all the other mephitis seemed to already have been defeated.
When they eventually entered the sheltered space, they brought a bronze casket that they had picked up from the fire-dwarf. Inside we found twelve glass vials, seven of which were filled to the brim with ash. According to Grum, the remains seemed to originate from something living and most likely were from different sources, although to be honest to me the grey powder and flakes were all the same.
 
We finished our brief moment of respite during which Teynos made his dismay of losing his helmet during our initial engagement very clear. Before lowering the barrier between us and the harsh environment, Kyla extended her inquisitive mind for the presence of any undead creatures and soon informed us that our path was clear on that front. Together this time, we approached the large cavern.
The burning hot lava flow cutting the place in two meant if we wanted to explore all the tunnels, we would have to jump over the molten rock at least once but there were no signs noticeable that would give us an idea where to start. Both, Teynos and Kyla however noticed the faint clang of a hammer on metal coming from the tunnel to our right. Indeed, not long after we entered said tunnel, all of us perceived the clinging rhythm, occasionally accompanied by two voices conversing in a language that sounded both like the creaking of hot iron and hissing flames.
Obscured by the dance of the hammer we entered into a smithy where three azers were absorbed by giving shape to a glowing piece of metal between them. The room was alit by a smaller offshoot of the lava stream we had seen before. Urging the others to stay back I stepped forward, intend of preventing spilling any further blood – or lava. I called out to the trio that I had heard about their incredible craftsmanship and was interested in purchasing whatever they were making. Unfortunately, I also learned in this moment that striking deals is made much harder if both parties did not speak the same language. Still, with hand and feet I managed to convey my meaning and placed down a first handful of gold to show our good will. I admit to having met a fierce diplomat in that room, as with what I can only describe as a flaming sly grin the azer hit the piece of metal precisely once for each coin I placed down. Even Grum’s offer of his hip flask did not impress them as they just tossed the vessel into a corner without any further regard. Perturbed by the slow pace of our negotiations, Kyla opted for a more direct method of figuring out our way out of this place by drawing a sketch on a piece of parchment to ask them for a pointer for an exit. Yet unintentionally this only made the azers aware that we were out of place here to begin with which caused the two azers that I had not been talking with to immediately draw their weapons. In a futile attempt to cut this short, I gave the third an apologetic look as I turned him into a monkey.
This really rubbed his friends the wrong way and they instantly jumped at us. Grum caught my meaning and himself turned into a primate while Grum, Teynos, Nysqwen and Kyla did their best to keep the others at bay without angering them any further. I took some dried fruit from my pack and extended them to the monkey-fire dwarf while Grum agitated gestured at him. Fortunately, without anyone getting seriously injured, we managed to cool down the situation enough that Grum signalled me to turn the azer back into his true self and for us to have another round of negotiations. Another handful of gold pieces later, the smiths resumed their work and before long presented us with a brand-new copper hip flask that they handed Grum. One side was adorned by a complicated flame pattern while the other showed a beast that could be a five-headed hydra. After they finished, the one we had been communicating with thus far left through another tunnel on the opposite side of the smithy as his friends signalled us to wait.
The azer returned with six further of his kin in tow. Yet before we could spend any thought on the possible threat that this might pose, the temperature in the room seemed to almost grow more intense. Behind the dwarven creatures followed the scaled, slithering red body of a large salamander that emanated a dry heat. They addressed us, fortunately in common, introducing themselves as Pyro and asking about our purpose. We answered thusly and in return learned that he and his followers were in service of a deity called Pyrothaeus. They recently claimed a partial stone tablet during a raid of another salamander’s home that depicted instructions for a ritual to summon this god of theirs, yet all the instructions they could make out spoke of some specific mixture of ashes while missing what ash it had to be. Thus, they had started collecting samples on our plane.
Something smelled fishy about all this, and it was not Nysqwen’s dried herring for which we had enough foresight to keep it in the bag of holding. Salamanders feuding within their kin and wanting to summon some god sounded like the beginning of one of those tales Anataea liked to tell children to teach them a lesson of what comes from meddling with powers beyond one’s own control. Unfortunately, we found ourselves outnumbered in rather unpleasant terrain and in a pinch to stop these seemingly religious fanatics from burning down all of Neverwinter Wood, with a quick glance at my friends I therefore offered our help in collecting the correct ashes to Pyro, in exchange for them stopping their arson.
Kyla interjected, curious what this Pyrothaeus was all about. According to Pyro, the deity is responsible for all the beasts on the elemental plane of fire although he left quite vague, what “being responsible” meant. Commonly he was worshipped by burnt offerings of some of those beasts yet all the ashes they had tried so far for their ritual had failed. Which was why they expanded their search to our plane. Kyla offered them some incense just to see if our self-inflicted mission could be cut short and they agreed to at least give them a try. Grum now came up to us as well to ask if the salamander knew anything about exotic remedies. He had heard from a brief encounter with a different elemental plane and some druids that these strange places hold a great, mostly untapped potential for many alchemic recipes. As he described Quercus’ symptoms, I am rather sure to have noticed an ever so faint tremble in his usually stern voice, followed by an almost inaudible sigh when Pyro revealed that he indeed knew of some treatment which however involved some exotic reagents and of course, their own plans of summoning Pyrothaeus would have first priority. But if we were to help them and provide the ingredients, he would be willing to help us. Apart from four pounds of obsidian and three vials of hellhound blood, they would also require the essence of a fire elemental. Pyro reached out to one of the azers who brought forth a small metal pot with a single handle. In the foreign tongue of this plane, he hissed something and then handed the vessel to us, explaining that once weakened enough, this would suffice to contain such essence.
While things were finally taking a more pleasant turn, we were all still quite exhausted. Before we would act on any of the tasks set in our path, we were therefore granted stay in a small room where a handful azers were deep into a card game. To shield us at least to some extend against the ever-present heat, once more I created the protective dome of welcoming melodies around us, before we bedded down for a longer rest.
 
When eventually all of us woke up again, Kyla said she had been thinking of possible ways to find answers to what Pyro might be searching for. She intended to ask the Raven Queen directly for the required source for the ashes. In a corner of the room, she then assembled a few sacrificial items, a mushroom she had collected, some oil and a golden coin that she arranged meticulously before kneeling down in silence. Some of the azers that were currently in the same room curiously came a few steps closer and watched with the same anticipation as the rest of us.
Without warning, the assorted items vanished into a black void that closed immediately. Kyla slumped together like a sack of wet flour and laid motionless on the floor. Instantly, Grum rushed over to her and exclaimed she was doing rather rough, upon which I immediately joined them, the healing potion uncorked before I even fully made it to my unconscious friend. With Grum’s help and trembling fingers I managed to pour the red liquid down Kyla’s throat and after a few heartbeats that felt like years, she began coughing, vomiting up some bile and opened her eyes. Between shivers and further coughs, she eventually managed to tell us that she had a vision in which she saw three trees, an oak, a yew tree and a birch. Yet something had disturbed her inquisition when she felt something burning in her stomach and left her in her current state. Still slightly shivering she administered her healing magic on herself causing her dark cheeks to finally lose the slightly yellow taint, her vision had left her with. Still, she was eager to repeat the ritual as she felt sure that she had not yet seen the whole picture of what that vision was supposed to show her. This time, as soon as she opened her eyes again, she said the vision had already happened. She now had seen the outside of the very volcano we were just standing inside of, from which a stream of magma flowed into a huge burning lake of molten rock. Her last image was the sight of a large shape, made of elemental fiery energy the emerged from the lake. She interpreted this as that the ashes would have to be created by burning the wood with some of this elemental fire rather than just setting them ablaze by common means.
While that certainly complicated things, we still knew that we would have to engage with a fire elemental anyways to try and trap it for Grum’s ritual. Thus, we might be lucky and get two things sorted out at the same time. Knowing now our course of action, Kyla asked me to briefly hold still, and I almost cried out in joy as suddenly I understood everything the azers that had returned to their card game were saying! Not only that, I also knew how to reply in their own tongue and was able to ask them to fetch Pyro for we had need to speak with them.
When they eventually arrived, they were as surprised by my sudden proficiency in articulating in their hissing tongue as I was, yet all I cared to explain was that Kyla was a mighty magic user if given enough time to prepare. I proceeded to explain what knowledge we had gathered and offered for us to travel back to our plane and fetch the necessary wood if in turn they would gather the materials required for Grum’s remedy. Pyro nodded thoughtfully that it would make sense to not only require the correct wood but also prepare it in a specific manner and agreed to collect the obsidian and hellhound blood. However, defeating and trapping an elemental already was part of the ritual so this would have to be done by us regardless. Satisfied with this accord, we shook hands, and I did my best to not show any of the pain that his fiery hot grip was causing me as I could feel my skin melt and peel away under his claws. We took our leave, heading towards the portal that he reassured us would be open again.
 
We emerged in the exact same location that we had left the day before. Now it was Teynos’s turn to yell triumphantly as he immediately found his dearly missed helmet and made a point of gazing into each of our eyes with his ominously glowing visor. After we did not see any of the required trees in our immediate vicinity, much to our disappointment, we agreed to head back towards our mounts in the hopes of finding Andrik. Unfortunately, once we arrived there, we did not see any traces of the druid, although our horses and mule seemed in perfect condition. With a broad grin – well I assume as much as most of his face was hidden behind the helmet – Teynos said he knew how to get the dwarf’s attention as he filled his lungs with a staggering amount of air and once more the roaring shout in Draconic echoed through the forest. Birds startled in to the air in flocks, the trample in the underbrush heralded the flight of countless animals and our horses were doing their best to tear through their binds until Kyla and Nysqwen eventually managed to calm them down. Nonetheless, soon a fox came darting from the north and veered into a rather angry Andrik that voiced his indignation about the disturbance of peace in the forest. His mood quickly changed when he heard about what we learned. He definitely hated fire, that much we gathered very soon from our conversation, but we managed to convince him that by burning a few sacrifices we might save large stretches of the forest from further invasions.
It took us the better part of the day but with Andrik’s knowledge of the forest we eventually collected enough wood in our bag of holding that we were confident in fulfilling the required amounts based on the size of the vials we had found in the case on the plane of fire. In preparation of our foreshadowed encounter with a being literally made of fire, we further looked for a small stream where we used some of the dust of dryness, we had found a seeming eternity ago. By just placing a pinch of the light-grey dust in the centre of the stream, we all marvelled as all the inflowing water was sucked into the little pile for a good while until a small marble of dark colouration was almost swept away by the flow. This might well be our moon card up the sleeve for whatever we might face in that place. Delighted by the clear sky, illuminated by millions of tiny stars and the fresh air around us, we decided to rest here before returning to the other plane the next day.
 
Despite the long night’s rest, I noticed the next morning that the skin around the spot where I shook claws with Pyro had not fully recovered. A deep-set scar remains, branded into the red skin and shall remind me once more of one of Anataea’s lessons, sometimes there needs to be a small sacrifice or compromise to safe what one holds dear, even if one cannot fathom every consequence that that might bring in the long run.
The portal was still awaiting us when we returned to the clearing and soon, we found ourselves leaving behind the sweet summer air of Faerun and returning to a place of fire, smoke and rock. Pyro was delighted when we brought word of us finding the wood and offered to briefly open a portal for us to the outside of their volcano although it would need to be closed immediately after to avoid being invaded the way that they had raided the other salamander’s den.
As we stepped through, we found ourselves at the outskirts of a mountain range. The air smelled of smoke, sand and rock and several smoking mountain tops made obvious that volcanoes were far more common here than back home. The gloom around us seemed only illuminated by several broad streams of magma rolling through the landscape and in the distance, we could see the brighter shine of what presumably was the lava lake that Kyla had spotted in her vision. Hissing and crackling sounds filled the air, occasionally disturbed by louder cracks as stones splintered under the heat of the lava passing by. A very distant but obviously loud roar filled the air briefly, shaking us to our cores. This definitely sounded significantly larger than Venomfang and I would not be in our favour should it come to an encounter with a dragon in this place. Thus alarmed, we quickly and as silently as possible set off towards the lake, just as a few four-legged, doglike creatures ran through the mountains above us without seeming to notice our presence.
After a while, every step closer towards the lake was taking its toll as the heat grew further. Nonetheless, I could not help myself but marvel at the inherent beauty of the slow flow of glowing yellow and red rock, sparks and bits of lava spraying about and the flickering air above the lake. And then the fire elemental emerged. From amidst the boiling pit rose an only vaguely defined form, still moving autonomously in the windless air. As large as a horse, the creature spotted us just as Nysqwen was drawing the branches we had collected from the bag of holding and charged towards where we were standing.
Grum stepped forth, raising his staff above his head and a dark cloud formed in the path of the elemental, raining forth shards of ice that began tearing at its form and encasing it briefly in vapour. My attempt on slowing the creature in its approach failed but as soon as it was upon us, Teynos swung one of the branches that Nysqwen had prepared against it which immediately caused the wood to catch on fire. Still charging, the elemental brushed straight through Teynos, Nysqwen Kyla and yours truly. This felt just like shaking hands with Pyro again, only much worse and on the entire body! Instantly, clothes and hair were set ablaze turning us into humanoid torches. While Nysqwen and Teynos continued in our mission of turning the wood we collected into ashes, I attempted a different angle. I called out to our foe in a hopeless attempt that he would be more understanding than the azers while dousing the flames engulfing Kyla and palming the little marble of the soaked dust. With all the wood burning, Nysqwen immediately proceeded to slash into the flames and Kyla reached straight into its burning form upon which it crumpled in on itself, flickering frantically and almost snuffing out. Grum pulled out the small metal vessel we had been given by Pyro and stepped towards the fading elemental. However, as my gaze drifted beyond my friends there was a second creature emerging from the magma. This one was smaller, yet clad in metal armour that failed to fully hide its fiery nature and wielded a large, serrated scimitar.
With a swift strike, Nysqwen vanquished the first elemental while Teynos and Grum faced the newcomer. Wide slashes greeted them, spraying sparks and blood. Grum managed to still reach out with the vessel to the remains of the first elemental which seemed to be sucked into the metal container. Seeing that if the fight would continue much longer, we would be in serious trouble, I reached for my trusted lyra and wove a tune that spurred Nysqwen to extreme swiftness. Kyla in the meantime took care of the worst of Teynos’ wounds who had fallen under the dancing blade. Unfortunately, the creature did not relent and sent him immediately back to the ground, almost ignoring the slashes of Nysqwen’s glaive and the silvery moonlight, Grum bathed it in. With a few strategically placed whispers followed by further attacks by all of us we managed to briefly drive it off back over the lake, only for it to return with almost increased vigour. Luckily, Nysqwen just had managed to give a healing potion to Teynos who stood up, still shaken by the fierceness of the attacks and retreated to not immediately suffer the same fate again.
With all the chaos around us and the dire situation myself, Kyla and Teynos especially found ourselves in, I saw no other option than to try a hail Mystra and throw the small bead in my hand for the creature. There was a faint plopping sound. Then we all found ourselves almost cooked alive as hundreds of buckets of water at once hit the burning hot creature and ground and were instantly turned into a boiling mist. Once it all evaporated, all that was left of where the last elemental stood was a steaming breastplate and the serrated blade.
With all of us seriously exhausted and most injured, we are now seeking refuge in the little dome again to lay off the worst of the wounds. Once we are recovered, we have to head back as quickly as we can, I do not believe that we could deal with another encounter like this and live to tell the tale of it.