Reports from Highhelm (to the Court of Ether)

N'drak Research notes 3, from Highhelm to the Court of Ether

One free gnome (names Jirelga) later (with a healthy dose of survival instinct and a potentially problematic dose of paranoia on her end), we're off to a place that could actually get us some useful information on king Taargick's fate: The Court of Ether. The queen of the place has been here for several eternities and should have first hand knowledge of the Quest for Sky, so that is helpful.

Less helpful is that she is a fairy, banished from the First World (a sadly neglected part of my studies, being more of a people of this world person) for undisclosed reasons that can, according to her, be blamed on gnomes. So we are to enter a fairy city, with all the personality that entails, without our guide.

Jirelga got us through the cave system to the Court of Ether without too much trouble and a manageable amount of annoyance (see: paranoia and survival instinct). We even got to fight a bunch of cave giants (slightly malnourished ones, but still) and I got to constructively test the new fire in my sap. I am happy to note it works well on big targets, and Kolkar and Aetoin are able to keep three giants at bay while I got to fireball said giants. Lovely. A won fight without me getting punched in the face. I could get used to that.

After the giants it was morlock time. Degenerate underground Azlanti, if memory serves. This featured sneaking, ooze infested caverns and general underground nonsense that makes me glad I live above ground back home. We outran them, I got to test some alchemical improvisation on the oozes, found out getting set only slightly on fire isn't much of a problem for Kolkar, so that's lovely. I can safely firebomb anyone fighting him and he'll be fine, even when on fire. Sadly, the same does not go for the rest of our little group, or for other alchemical compounds. We outran the morlocks, climbed down a cliff (generally not much of an issue for us, especially with me being earthblooded), got attacked by giant bats, again no face punching, Mellaril summons a loud noise that scared the bats away... Seems we are getting better at this.

--hasty scribblings--

I've come to again. That's the good news. Redcaps on giant bloodsucking insects near a seemingly literal bottomless pit of incredible size are the bad news. They are seemingly the city guards of the Court of Ether. That's the worse news. We killed one, threw one down the pit, and the last one fled. I now own a redcap's red cap and as we are preparing to enter the city, I do not feel like being reasonable or friendly towards these creatures. Uvuko however dislikes harsh words and asks us to adapt to adversity. We will see. Maybe we'll go for a "nice elf, bad fungus"-methodology. If these creatures annoy us enough, I might not have to give up on procreating and WILL grow more of me. And I speak most of their languages, from the different fay tongues, to intimidation, to violence. We will see indeed.