Nymph interlude (Afina)

[Ebiris]

She does like asymmetry, this is true. Though she usually reserves it for colours rather than proportions. "Uniqueness is good," she agrees, already casting prestidigitation as her pristine white outfit has stains starting to appear on it from the gases.

Fluttering her wings to gain a bit of altitude and look around she breathes deeply, unbothered by the toxic mix of gases. "Very dramatic landscape, isn't it?"

[Anastasia]

Gold steps forward and transforms, "A red dragon's lair," Gold remarks, "Do you wish to ride me?"

[Ebiris]

Generally Afina prefers to rely solely on her own motive powers, but she recognises Gold's offer for the kindness it is, coming from a dragon who can see the thing on her forehead. "I will, thank you Gold," she flies over near his head. "Where should I sit?"

[Anastasia]

"Between my wings," Gold says, as Simmer hops back on up.

"Let's go!" she calls, as Gold and Arrel begin to fly forward.

Going to do anything or just along for the ride?

[Ebiris]

I'll keep an eye out for trouble with my keen pixie senses!

Flying back over Afina settles herself between Gold's wings at their thickest point. Not as comfy as Shinear but it's not the worst.

[Anastasia]

The party flies onward.

> roll 1d100
<Kobot> Kotono rolled 1d100 --> [ 1d100=17 ]{17}

Your trip across the island is uneventful. After perhaps 15 minutes of flight, you spot something ahead. Below you is a collection of crude huts made out of formed volcanic stone. A few small pools of magma boil up here, sizzling and popping. You can see creatures of rock and lava ambling about in the village below. They are of varying sizes, most larger than human. Magma para-elementals, if you don't miss your guess.

[Ebiris]

"Lets land here and see if we can learn anything!" Afina shouts over towards Gold's head as they wing over the landscape. Elementals in general may be fairly laconic but even so they might learn a thing or two about what lies ahead.

[Anastasia]

"Yes," Gold shouts back and circles down, landing on the outskirts of the village. Arrel follows, as the elementals approach. They stay back, but there's several dozen converging ahead of you.

[Ebiris]

Flying off Gold's back and moving forward to meet the converging elementals, Afina calls out in Ignan. "Hello! Can anyone tell us about the Sinkhole?"

[Anastasia]

One comes forward - an absolute titan of an elemental. Bigger than four Hannas stacked up together and broad as six of her, it is a small mountain of rock and magma given form. It kneels before all of you, arm resting on its knee and it says, "Hello, little pixie!" A man's voice, cheerful. "A pixie, a gold dragon, an eagle and a fire dryad! How amazing."

[Ebiris]

Well, that's quite a verbose elemental! "Hello!" she repeats herself, matching that cheer. "My name is Afina Devilsbane. My friends are Goldanariux, Arrel, and Simmer. We're trying to learn more about Magma and we heard the Sinkhole was an important place to para-elementals," she introduces herself and explains a bit more about their purpose here since she's likely to get an actual conversation going.

[Anastasia]

"Oh, it is, it is. Let me introduce myself. I am Devin Garzara, wizard extraordinaire and lava para-elemental monolith. To cut to the heart of the matter, it's a long story."

Gold peers at him, "I gathered. Is your possession of the elemental willing?" He bristles just a little bit.

"Oh yes, yes. Marvelous story, really. Magma - elementals aren't long on names, I'm afraid, and this one's particularly uninspired. Anyway, Magma wanted to learn about mortal creatures after being summoned by them. How it happened from there isn't terribly important, but the short version is that he agreed to be possessed by me. I get all the power and agelessness, he gets access to my mind and memories to learn from directly. Such as this? He's learning about cities and settlements." His arm gestures back towards the village, drops of lava flying and splattering over the ground.

[Ebiris]

"I did once meet an earth elemental who was mystified by the concept of gender," Afina says, recalling a prior experience. "I gave him some reading materials rather than a more hands-on demonstration, though."

[Anastasia]

"I hope not!" Devin declares, scandalized. "That way leads the birth of freakish cross breeds. Why, I once knew an ogre with fiendish blood, dragon blood and fire elemental blood. I then helped it become a half golem. Marvelous story, really. After that, it didn't even register as an ogre to magic, but as a construct and aberration. Fascinating study, I really must recommend reading the book about it. It should be for sale in Brightwater if Paerus is doing his job, it's titled Ogres Blues. You know of Brightwater, I reckon, with such a diverse party. Why, I bet you all met in a tavern there and decided to come here!"

[Ebiris]

"Not quite. We're representatives of Aurora, home of the Crusade to liberate Lifasa," Afina explains. He didn't recognise her name so he probably won't recognise those terms either, but there's nothing lost in the telling. "As I possess qualities of all four of the prime elements, I have been embarking on something of a pilgrimage across the para-elemental planes so as to better understand and master my elemental nature. Magma being the last stop, and Sinkhole hopefully offering the wisdom I seek."