He Breathed His Last

In the corners of the cavern, at the edge of their vision, The Adventurers noticed two large shapes forming in the darkness.  Two grotesque ape-like monsters began to appear and attack the party.  They were dispatched with surprising easily, with Sorin even arming the two battered prisoners so they could help finish off the second beast, almost literally exorcising their own demons.

Balderich, Jarlier, Skonn, Smiley and Sorin pressed on, agreeing to escort the prisoners out of the caves. Arnogall, Baphomet, Drowyn and Kilnaar hung back, not engaging in combat, almost as if they were not even there.  Deciding to head to the Air Portal, the party continued down the caverns, finding four priests in a chamber, at the centre of which a brazier burned an eerie green flame.  The priests saw Skonn first and demanded to know what he was doing here.  Then they saw Jarlier wielding the legendary spear, Windvane and deferred to him.  They asked if he was here to perform the ritual and noticing the two prisoners and Smiley not in cultist robes, were pleased there would be three sacrifices.

Jarlier bluffed his way through the conversation with growing confidence.  One of the priests escorted them to the portal whilst the other priests stayed behind.

In the middle of the next cavern, spikes of stone jutted upward like three immense claws. Between them, a churning thundercloud thrashed with lightning. Thunder cracked, and cascades of tiny rocks tumbled from above. Beneath the thunderhead stood a raised area splattered with the blood of many sacrifices. A silvery window could sometimes be seen in the center of the cloud. It opened onto clouds in an endless sky.


At the altar the priest cried "perform the ritual, make your sacrifices here and open the way for our master Yan-C-Bin to come forth and remake this world"  An awkward stalemate ensued while Jarlier played for time before the priest, now floating in meditation, opened his eyes and asked why he waited. With that Sorin loosed an arrow at the priest, and two air elementals in what looked like plate armour advanced on the party. The priest created a dust devil and launched it at Smiley and the two prisoners. Smiley held his ground but the raging wind battered Nerise killing her instantly. Sorin used his Bottled Breath to push the priest backwards into the air portal, into which he disappeared. 

The armoured air elementals then attacked with their flails.  As it hit the heroes, lightning coarsed through the weapon, electrocuting the victim. Skonn, Sorin and Jarlier were all knocked unconscious in the battle, Smiley turned and ran back down the tunnel followed by an air elemental. The other elemental chased Balderich around the cavern. Just before the creature brought his flair crashing down on him, Balderich shouted for Desenya to get one of the magic healing mushrooms from Sorin and feed half to Sorin and Skonn. This successfully revived them but Balderich was downed by the flail. The creature began to pummel the unconscious Jarlier and Balderich.


Meanwhile, Smiley ran into the priests back by the green flame. He successfully persuaded them that the air elementals had gone mad and attacked everyone including Jarlier. They went to investigate, taking Smiley with them. The air creature pursuing Smiley was now heading straight for them.  It started to swing its flail high above its head and just as it was about to bring the ball crashing down upon their heads the lead priest waved a hand and the creature disappeared into thin air. 

Smiley and the priests arrived at the Air Portal to see the air creature with Jarlier and Balderich incapacitated at its feet. It brought down its flail onto Balderich’s chest, crushing his rib cage, killing him. The creature also tried to attack the fallen Jarlier but missed and with that the priest approached, waved his hand and again the creature disappeared. 

The priests revived Jarlier and Smiley continued to explain that the creatures had gone mad and attacked everyone. He then fell onto his knees, bowing down before Jarlier asking to serve the ‘Heir of the Air’.  Smiley sidled up to Balderich's corpse and looted some useful items.  

Jarlier suggested that they all rest before attempting to summon Yan-C-Bin as they were now not in an acceptable state to receive such an important being. The priests agreed and suggested they all return to the holding area for the prisoners which had been transformed into a more comfortable area.  Before leaving, Jarlier commanded the priests to throw Balderich's body into the portal. They followed the priests and noticed another prisoner, hooded and chained in the corner of the now stately looking chamber.