Etherstorm Wastes: betrayal in the Air Realm
The weak pillar
Desoloth explains his method to X’dir: a single weak pillar, pushed correctly, can bring down a building. His next words have two versions. In one, Desoloth points to X’dir’s success with the Hero; otherwise, he speaks of the many soft-willed pillars available in Etherstorm. Either version makes manipulation part of the assault. While the elements tear at the land, Desoloth is also testing the resolve of its defenders.
In his temple, As’iiur addresses his lost lord and vows that the dragons will be saved, whatever the cost. A bright orb hangs over the winding altar behind him, but the promise does not name its recipient. He then summons the Hero and Galanoth to the Air Realm, saying that both are needed. Warlic declines to accompany them immediately: he wants to understand Fire’s disturbance more deeply and promises to follow. The party divides before the work in Air begins.
A temple beneath the sand
As’iiur’s home has lost its gentle breezes. Air fights with Water, thick fog obscures the land, and Galanoth recognizes the unnatural sand as evidence of Air’s struggle with Earth while Cellot is gone. As’iiur admits his fear, then offers a binding spell to subdue Desoloth. The Hero will collect its ingredients while he discusses the required strength with Galanoth. The DragonSlayer accepts that part of the task confidently: bringing down a Great Wyrm is precisely the experience he can offer.
The priest presents himself as one of the most powerful of his order, willing to defend the Air dragons with magic, potions and even his life. His spell begins with Breaths of Life taken from Wind Elementals and Living Air, supposedly to steal Desoloth’s breath. He then directs the Hero toward a less obvious part of his domain: the temple lies underground, beneath the sand, where dragons cannot fly. Air’s presence there, he explains, places it under his care as surely as the open sky.
Air to bind a sacrifice
The Hero gathers ten sacred air samples, then breaks twelve of the temple’s magic-storing crystals to release their Airther. As’iiur wants that release made aggressively, so the magic carries the Hero’s emotion, and asks that his Air Spirit Guide be awakened from the King Crystal. His satisfaction reveals a more troubling purpose: he speaks of binding a sacrifice and slaying a mighty combatant. Noticing the Hero still listening, he hurriedly names Desoloth as the sacrifice needed to secure the new Primes’ future.
The preparation continues with Caustic Pollen from Sulfur Imps and Fire Blossom Petals from the Fire Realm. As’iiur talks of extinguishing the fire in a powerful heart, then blows out the blossoms’ fire and grinds the pollen for the purpose he has in mind. He also sends the Hero after the Space Between, taken from an Energy Tornado, calling it the final physical component. His words repeatedly slip toward lies, fear and sacrifice before returning to the declared need to stop Desoloth. The promised binding spell is acquiring meanings the Hero has not been allowed to examine.
Ang’st and the little companion
The acolyte Ang’st offers a different view of Air’s guardians. He mourns a home torn apart by elemental clashes and worries that his own courage falls short of his family’s tradition: a greatmother was High Priest of Air centuries earlier. He has also noticed As’iiur looking frightened when he thinks no one sees. An ambitious acolyte, he says, must know more than he is told. The master’s confident promises have not concealed his fear from the student who watches him most closely.
Ang’st’s two repeatable requests are separate from As’iiur’s spell preparations. One asks the Hero to free ninety-nine Air spirits from the Earth lightning with which they are clashing and bring a breath from Living Air. The other concerns Omom, a little companion who has been with him since his youth and lightens his mood by playing Catch-the-tail. When Living Air takes her, he asks the Hero to recover her. His thanks become a plea to keep her safe through the crisis, with the hope that her future litter will one day play in gentler breezes.
The blessing and the flower
After the last physical component is brought back, As’iiur announces a missing piece of knowledge. He has sought a certain formula from Hs’Sakar for years and now sends the Hero to ask for it. Galanoth offers to accompany the Hero through the dangerous elements and crazed dragons. As’iiur instead supplies a supposed protection: a winding column of air surrounds the Hero, and the priest says that dragons will now sense the visitor as a priest of the Prime Air Dragon. His aside to Omom briefly makes the offering sound like an invitation to the little companion as well.
As the Hero is sent away, As’iiur asks Galanoth to help judge the potency of the Dragon’s Fire pollen. A burning flower is offered between priest and dragonslayer. The following images place a bright orb among the temple crystals, then show Galanoth’s silhouette hunched against a field of white as As’iiur calls out to him. The exchange ends without a spoken explanation of what has happened. It leaves Galanoth in danger behind the departing Hero, rather than establishing the violent attack As’iiur will later attribute to him.
An answer not found
As’iiur’s complaints have already supplied a history for the missing formula. He says Hs’Sakar learned the double-double hydro-oxy bond before leaving their shared Air training for Fire, and resents a fellow potion-maker withholding knowledge. Hs’Sakar gives the Hero a different answer: he does not know the requested formula. He remembers something similar, says that their mentor taught them both, and calls As’iiur the favored pupil who learned even more. He sends the Hero back to the Air Priest. The errand produces no formula to complete the spell.
Back in Air, the Hero gathers Warlic and the priests to address Galanoth’s disappearance. As’iiur claims that the DragonSlayer attacked him in a rage, interrupted the binding spell and then fled. He presents his own safety as less important than the lost chance to confine Desoloth. Warlic cannot reconcile the account with the Galanoth he knows, but the unnatural fog prevents him seeing an alternative. The Hero remembers fighting beside Galanoth, each trusting the other’s shield. Those memories resist the priest’s accusation even when the missing warrior cannot answer it.
The friend hidden by fog
As’iiur shifts attention from the broken spell to the danger Galanoth might pose to his dragons. If they are harmed, he says, he will neither stop nor oppose their retaliation; a worthy new Prime would demand it. Dr’ader assures him that no one is angry about the spell’s loss and that, as far as they know, the Air dragons remain safe. As’iiur nevertheless breaks off the discussion. He has errands to attend to and things that must be done if his master’s children are to stay protected.
The priest’s other words do little to restore trust. He tells the Hero that someone who appears helpful may no longer be a friend, and suggests that fear can drive conduct outsiders cannot understand. The warning can be heard against his own anxious promises as well as the absent Galanoth. The Hero is left furious and doubtful. Warlic insists that Galanoth must be found, and Hs’Sakar adds that the search matters for his sake and theirs. Air’s priest has supplied an accusation; finding the DragonSlayer is the only way forward to an answer.