![[BtS-129-1.png]] #### Lamashan 22nd, 2431AS Today was supposed to be the day that we went to the plane of air. While I was looking over the specifications for [[Avrec Rishten|Avrec]]'s Interplanar Teleport spell I noticed some rather concerning statistics. In the worst case we could theoretically end up **five hundred miles** away from our last position on the material plane. The math didn't specify if that was on the ground either, so I became relatively concerned that we would either end up in the water or hundreds of miles in the air. I made sure to point this out before [[Avrec Rishten|Avrec]] began casting the spell. Both he and [[Wilborin|Wil]] went over the math again and realized that I was technically correct, with some caveats. Yes, if things go catastrophically wrong what I was worried about could happen, or worse, but with our level of skill this is extremely improbable. What is far more likely is that we will reappear at or around a place with an affinity for air which will either be at a high altitude or, well, in the air. After a bit of debate and further investigation we came to the conclusion that our most likely return point will be on the ground at high altitude. We decided that casting the spell from the top of Fallinraith mountain would increase our likelihood of returning to the position that we left from. Should we end up in a random location teleporting back to [[Fellheim]] would be a bit difficult as we must know our relative start and end locations for Teleport. This set us up for the highest chance of returning to a known location. Of course we *could* walk to Fallinraith mountain, but that would take a couple almost a week and [[Avrec Rishten|Avrec]] knows Teleport. This did cost him some magical energy which he didn't want expended right before an expected combat. There was nothing stopping us from spending the energy and camping on the mountain though, so we did just that. Propping up some makeshift chairs [[Avrec Rishten|Avrec]], [[Badda]], and [[Kitsuki Nagahashi|I]] spent the day relaxing below the ash covered sky. Despite it almost being winter the heat from the volcano kept us nice and warm while we sat in the sun. By noon we were covered soot however, so [[Badda]] constructed some simple cover to keep it off us. While we were relaxing [[Nhox Cropslown|Nhox]] and [[Gideon Roi|Gideon]] went out hunting for some nice meat. It took most of the day to track some down but in the end we had a nice boar meat dinner. Not entirely sure how they did that as boars are not native to this area. While they did that [[Wilborin|Wil]] spent some time going through his notes to compile a comprehensive set of things to be prepared for on the plane of air. Honestly, he went a little overboard with the information as a lot of it was not relevant to where we would end up. It was interesting to learn at the very least. As one would expect the plane of air is mostly empty space. Breathing won't be an issue as the air there is mostly the same as the air on the material plane. Nearby the plane of water there are stormy skies and hurricane force winds. Close to the plane of fire there are massive spheres of fire similar to but not as large as stars. Next to the plane of earth, where we will be going, there are small floating rocks that will appear. This is where Sky Crystals will form, and will be the perfect spot to collect Zephyr Essence. Like on the Plane of Shadow gravity will be subjective, however it will be far more controllable. At our level of competency even those of us with basic acrobatics training would be able to fly without wings. As a final tidbit of information we were told that sapient beings known as the Djinn live in a large city in an area close to the plane of fire. --- #### Lamashan 23rd, 2431AS Upon finishing our daily preparations this morning [[Badda]] put some Clockwork Goggles up for grabs. They would allow us to see invisible creatures should we need to. Given that we are going to the plane of air we figured that perhaps the elementals might be able to essentially go invisible there. That was partially correct as I will get to later. While I grabbed a set of goggles immediately the other two didn't fly off the shelves, although in the end [[Avrec Rishten|Avrec]] and [[Badda]] both took a pair. Through the use of a wand [[Wilborin|Wil]] could already see through invisibility, and [[Gideon Roi|Gideon]] claimed to have just trained his eyes to notice subtle movements in the air that allow him to do the same. Frankly I don't entirely believe him as that sounds like bullshit. During this conversation [[Nhox Cropslown|Nhox]] seemed to be pretty out of it. There didn't seem to be any reason for it so I just assumed she didn't get a very good sleep last night. Soon after the discussion [[Avrec Rishten|Avrec]] and [[Wilborin|Wil]] began working on creating the magical circle for Interplanar Teleport. The ever cheeky [[Shiro]] was able to slip out of his duties once again, this time due to the fact that [[Wilborin|Wil]] was a far better help when dealing with other planes. As the two layered teleportation circle came together the planar key was placed floating in the air near the center. Everyone was guided to their positions and [[Avrec Rishten|Avrec]] began pouring magical energy into the circle. Slowly the planar key began to float higher into the air, the glass case opening on its own. Through the two halves of the key's case we could see a cloudy sky. As a calming presence passed through us all we felt the sensation of approaching sleep. Just as the sensation reached its peak there was a jolt forward as we felt a sudden fall. A moment later the falling sensation was gone and we were all just floating in the air. The world was suddenly much brighter, the light of a pleasant morning bathing us from all directions. In all directions there were white fluffy clouds, almost as though we were high up in the sky on the material plane. Though these clouds didn't have the same "up" as each other, as we were now on the plane of air. Before we could get our bearings the now closed planar key began to slowly drift away. With a flick of a finger [[Avrec Rishten|Avrec]] cast Mage Hand to grab it and put it back into its box, then his Bag of Holding. Drifting aimlessly through the air was rather disorienting especially due to the lack of the concept of "down". After spending a few minutes attempting to control our gravity just like on the plane of shadow we were able to begin controlling our movements through the air. For a normal person this definitely would have been difficult, but we simply are not normal anymore. Once everyone was stable we began looking around for the supposed floating rocks. [[Gideon Roi|Gideon]] was the first to spot some with his spyglass, a cluster a few hundred feet away from us. With our controlled flight we all drifted towards them, six rocks at most 25 feet in diameter. Not only was this the perfect place to set up the Zephyr Essence collector, but there were also Sky Crystals all over the rocks. Before [[Wilborin|Wil]] and [[Avrec Rishten|Avrec]] were done setting up the device we were able to collect enough Sky Crystal for two airships. Once the Zephyr Essence apparatus was constructed we all gathered around to plan on how to handle the elementals that would soon arrive. Constant fighting wasn't a good idea in the slightest, so we opted to attempt to scare them off first. It was quite literally the perfect time for [[Gideon Roi|Gideon]] to use his recent training. Eventually there would be strong enough elementals that wouldn't run, and that would be the time to fight. Now ready to go, [[Wilborin|Wil]] flipped a switch on the machine to bring it to life. With a gentle whirr it began to collect Zephyr Essence, a faint swirl of energy barely visible around the inlet at the top. Quickly some faint purple crystals began to form around the base of the poles and the central machine which [[Wilborin|Wil]] claimed to be completely normal. The plan went perfectly, and after almost thirty minutes [[Gideon Roi|Gideon]]'s warning shots had warded off bird-like elementals and small tornados with ease. In the distance we began to see some dark clouds gathering but it would be a bit before they were a problem. Looking closer we could see what looked like regular objects appearing in the storm clouds. Swords, dragons, elephants, and other random real world things. Just after we noticed that we also began to hear a faint tingle of music coming from the opposite direction. Turning around we were able to see two large swirls of air with a single golden line twirling within them. As they came closer we could tell that these elementals were trying to mimic music but did not fully comprehend what music is. Unlike the earlier elementals these musical storms did not immediately flee after [[Gideon Roi|Gideon]] fired a warning shot. It did scare them a bit, prompting their music to change to something more akin to beating drums mimicking the gunshots that just passed them, however they continued to approach. Unfortunately for them they were absolutely not match for us. After only a couple missed swipes from them and some solid hits from us they decided that it simply wasn't worth it and flew away. By this point there were only about fifteen minutes left before the collection process was finished. Looking back over, the storm cloud we had noticed previously was now much closer and was slowly closing in around us. Quickly we realized that the cloud was formed in the midst of a collection of six air elementals of the same type. The objects made of clouds on the inside were two separate elementals of a different type than the others with the ability to form shapes. To make matters even worse [[Nhox Cropslown|Nhox]] spotted a squadron of twenty or so Zephyr Hawks approaching from our right. Through the Telepathic Bond [[Wilborin|Wil]] notified everyone that this fight would be large enough that no other elementals would approach for a bit after it finished. With the exception of [[Avrec Rishten|Avrec]] keeping enough magical energy to cast Planar Teleport we could expend as much energy as we needed. Before anyone could move [[Nhox Cropslown|Nhox]] jetted off in the direction of the Zephyr Hawks whilst claiming that she could take care of them. Interested in killing a bunch of bird like entities, [[Shiro]] followed suit. This left the rest of us with the other eight elementals. Their approach was slow at first, but once they got within five hundred feet [[Avrec Rishten|Avrec]] cast Eclipse Burst surrounding them. This was entirely unappreciated by them as the collection of now notably damaged air elementals swiftly rushed up to us. The first of the two shape changing clouds took the form of a swarm of swirling swords which repeatedly cut many members of [[Ex Nihilo|the group]]. The other shape changer took the form of an elephant and rammed into [[Badda]], [[Gideon Roi|Gideon]], and [[Kitsuki Nagahashi|I]], slamming the latter two into the rock we were floating next to. The elementals which made up the dark storm cloud were also keen on shoving us around. Each hit knocked us away from each other and from them leading to constant frustrating situations where there was never two of us threatening a single one at the same time. That situation is normally what I exploit in a fight, so being knocked around really put a dent in my effectiveness. To make matters more annoying the elementals could also throw bits of lightning once they had pushed us out of reach. Amidst the swirling winds and blades of cloud [[Gideon Roi|Gideon]] and [[Badda]] were both able to land multiple shots on the core of the swirling blades. This caused it to shatter in a brilliant burst almost immediately after it began cutting us. At the same time [[Avrec Rishten|Avrec]] began to cast Disintegrate with the intent to instantly kill the second shape changer. While the spell formed his eyes began to glow a bright gold as he would later describe the memory of his former self guiding his aim. Just after [[Gideon Roi|Gideon]]'s second shot rang out he fired a third which looked like it was poorly aimed at the second shape changer. This was all part of [[Gideon Roi|Gideon]]'s plan however as even though it wasn't going to connect the elemental instinctively dodged out of the way, right into [[Avrec Rishten|Avrec]]'s Disintegrate. With a burst of air the elephant shaped cloud vanished making us think the fight was almost already finished. After [[Avrec Rishten|Avrec]] had cast such a powerful spell the other air elementals began to focus their punches on him. Moving over to help I punched through one with a blast of Shocking Grasp. Just like the elephant cloud the elemental I punched vanished into the wind. In the heat of battle none of us noticed, however the "deaths" of these two elementals were not nearly as dramatic as the one that [[Gideon Roi|Gideon]] had killed. Moments after they had dissipated they began to reappear, looking like the previous strikes had done serious damage, but they weren't dead as we thought. The elephant cloud reformed as a second swirling mass of swords which cut into us just as painfully as the first. The speed and strength of the swords cleared an area in the storm cloud that had fully enveloped us, reinforced by the proximity of the powerful elementals. Thus began the true fight, the elementals taking single hits before vanishing. The googles that [[Badda]] had made weren't able to help us with this, the elementals were almost entirely disassembling themselves to make it impossible to both see or hit them. Even spells that persisted in a large area such as [[Wilborin|Wil]]'s Awakened Entropy spell could not injure them in the dissipated state. These brutal tactics were unlike anything we had expected or fought against before. Before long each of us was barely holding on to consciousness while we did our absolute best to take them out. Large bursts of strong magic were the most effective as we could often only catch the elementals with a single attack before they vanished. Chain Lightning was fairly effective through its ability to hit multiple targets with a significant amount of energy quickly, so [[Avrec Rishten|Avrec]] cast it as much as he could. The magical potential in the bursts of electricity were strong enough to instantly form showers of Sky Crystals from the elementals that were struck. This lead to the elementals continuing to focus on him, but before things got too dire he cast Invisibility on himself. Glancing over at the squadron of hawks both [[Shiro]] and [[Nhox Cropslown|Nhox]] looked to have it nice. They were essentially toying with the small elementals, not noticing that we were having an extremely difficult time until almost too late. Once they did see how injured we all were they began to take their section of the fight more seriously to finish up as quickly as possible. Meanwhile the swarm of blades still hadn't been killed and had managed to almost make [[Wilborin|Wil]] pass out. It was only through [[Avrec Rishten|Avrec]] casting Word of Revision that he managed to stay on his feet from a blow that should have finished him. Dodging out of the way of further blades he cast Heal on himself, only for [[Arkai]] to be forced to reach out and extend his protection to stop [[Badda]] being knocked out out from a particularly devastating air punch. This made [[Wilborin|Wil]] wince in intense pain once again while struggling to hold on. As bad as things looked for us by this point, the elementals were in a worse state. Alongside [[Avrec Rishten|Avrec]]'s bursts of magic [[Gideon Roi|Gideon]], [[Badda]], [[Arkai]], and [[Kitsuki Nagahashi|I]] were consistently hitting the elementals as they formed. Only the cloud of swords and two other sets of swirling storm clouds remained. The storm surrounding us was beginning to break, we just needed a final push. >[!Recap Note] >They are the storm, they are approaching. But ***[[Kitsuki Nagahashi|I]]*** was supposed to be the storm!