Zeke manifests.
"The bond is wrapped around their core. It will hurt them if we just overload the bond. We Can unmake them together I think. The first step is to destroy that mass of Fire Essence there. As much as I hate to admit it. You might want to call on Nix to help."

I nod, "Good idea Zeke."

Then I turn to the two fire spirits, "I will be manifesting my water fury to assist in freeing you. She means you no harm and has aided in stopping the subjugation of elemental spirits before."

With that I'll let Nix know about the plan and manifest her to help. Then with Zeke and I focusing on unmaking the bonds, Nix can work to destroy the mass of fire essence.

Nix Manifests and the fire spirits are visibly restraining themselves from attacking her. You and Zeke work on unweaving the bonds of magic enslaving them while Nix works to extinguish the Fire essence that they are bound too.

It takes ten minutes of complicated work but you free them. They start orbiting around you. You can feel the heat of their flame.

'Thank You Flamekin. We shall follow you For a Year and a Day.'


Zeke and Nix let themselves fade.
You Might consider asking them what they can do. Since they are Spirits, You could also Invite them Inside. I'm sure they would like My Areas.

I bow respectfully, "it is my pleasure. Subjugation of spirits is an affront to my way of life. I extend to you the offer of residing in my soul, in Zekes fire domain, and also would like to learn more about you. I don't know much about the differences of spirits and furies like Zeke and Nix. What are your goals, desires and what can you do?"

They and their souls are about the size of a burning baseball. So they don't register as all that strong.

'We are fire. We burn things. We inflame passions. We purify by burning out impurities. Call us out when you need us.'

They fade from the material and you feel them enter your soulscape.

There isn't much difference between a Fury and a Elemental Spirit

Good to know, I'd been thinking over what differences if any there were.

Time to check out what's on the other side of this door, time to continue exploring.

You enter the room and Find yourself on a rocky bridge in a cave like room.
There is a huge bolder sitting on a high ledge above you. Where the bridges cross there is a square hole that is about ten feet wide. To the North is a door locked with a dark magic seal.

The Room is arranged like this
      dark sealed door
             | |
             | |
             | |
             | |
    _________|_|_________
Door_________|_|_________Door
             | |
             | |
             | |
             | |
    _________|_|_____High Ledge
Door_________|_|____You__Door
             | |
             | |
             | |
             | |
            Door

So there is a 10 ft square hole at two locations, both of them being intersections. Just wanted to double check.

I survey the room before turning to the others,
"I'm going to scout ahead, this feels like a trap designed to push one off the walkway into the pit. I'll return soon, hopefully finding the way through that gate soon. Don't worry about me by the way, I can always fly if need be."

Going to try to avoid that, the mote expenditure might be more than I would like inside this cave. In furycrafting the more stagnant the air and the more earth surrounding you the harder windcrafting is. In my mind that translates to using more motes for the same movement. Which makes sense, as you have to get the air moving instead of just getting it to go the way you want.

I'm going to go through the south door, leaping across the hole in the ground when I come to it. I'm keeping an eye out for pressure plates that might spring a trap like that boulder.

That is correct. There are two different square holes that are 10 ft. wide.

You go over the corner of the hole and head south.

You open the door and find yourself at the entrance where you killed the Golems.

I'm going to continue my always left exploration. So I'm coming in from the north so I'll check out the east exit, and continue taking left turns until I find a puzzle or enemies to interact with. If that leads me back to the central room I'll obviously not go left leaving the temple but rather back north into the room I left the others in, and then continue my always left technique.

You head east and find a room that is 50 ft east to west and 30 ft North to south.

On the east side is a door with a Dark Seal on it.
The room is made of smooth granite. With geometric inlays of Marble.

You hear a young man screaming from the west. He is getting closer.

I brace myself for trouble and rush towards the sound of the young man screaming, wary that it may be a trap but unwilling to not help someone that I can.

You rush back into the entrance. the others come in from the north door.
Then a young man slams the west door open still screaming. He has really tan skin, almost African in tone. But he has blue eyes and the most ridiculous blond afro you have ever seen. You guesstimate that he is about 5'6" tall but his afro hides his actual height.

The Vampire in the Duster and Hat rushes him through the door But the teenager manages to dodge to the side. The Vampire is skidding to a halt.

I draw Vadahf and tense myself, ready to jump to intercept any attack against this young man. I'll call out,
"Who are you? Why is he after you?"

I'm slightly paranoid that this may be an immortal on immortal conflict, but will jump in to defend anyway if an attack happens.

You sense the candle flame of this young man's soul. Honestly he feels too weak to be an immortal.

However the young man is too panicked to answer you fully.

"HE'S A VAMPIRE!!! HE'S AFTER MY BLOOD!!!"

The vampire lunges with claws extended.  But you intercept and parry the strike. He presses the assault and forces you back. But he is forced to disengage when Leona and Lita strike with halberd and fist respectively. Selene start firing with her Dark Gun. The vampire pulls out the Gun Del Sol and returns fire. Black smoke comming from his hand. He hits Selene and stuns her he aims at Leona.

Then graps his skull.
"Leo...na..."
The Vampire screams and the goes through the door you just opened. You see him open the door with a Dark Seal and then close it behind him.

I blink and then go to tend Selene. "Selene, are you ok? Do you need healing?" If so I'll heal her and double check that she is free of energy. I'm also drawing in motes, preparing for battle when I follow the immortal. I'll say to Leona, "see to making sure yourself and Lita are topped off on motes, I believe this next battle will be difficult, but I intend to capture him this time.  I will do all I can to do so, and see about reversing this curse he seems to have."

While waiting to charge (activating my mote pump to make that faster) I turn to the young man, "Calm yourself and tell me what happened. Who are you?"

Selene says
"Yes, That hit me hard. "
You heal the damage with your materia and don't sense any solar essence lingering within her.

Leona and Lita nod and pull out some orange like solar fruit. Then precede to eat them.

You recharge quickly with Earth Motes.
The Young Man calms down somewhat with the Vampire gone
"They... They call me the Kid, Billy the Kid. A couple of weeks ago the undead attacked San Miguel and I hid out here in these ruins. But this weird spiked root trapped me in here. The vampire clawed right through it to get to me. Of course I ran and ran and dodged. Then I ran into you guys. Are the Undead out of San Miguel?"

I rebalance the motes so that I have an equal number of each type after collecting the earth motes, collecting a few extra to make up for the loss in conversion. I'll be using the artifact bottle for this.

I do my best to suppress a chuckle at the kids name,
"Yes Billy, we saw to driving off the undead in San Miguel. The immortal that was stirring there has been destroyed. I think you chose the lair of another immortal to hide in though. There's definitely one here... I'm starting to think there may be two. I feel that this ruin is home to an earth attuned immortal, but the one who just came through is not as such. Though a weird spiked root may have been a trap set by whoever dwells here. Either way, you are free to make the trip back to San Miguel where we will catch up with you, or wait here and travel back with us when we head back."

I leave that decision to Billy but once I'm ready to confront who I'm nearly positive at this point is Leona's father I'll stand up and say, "Ok, let's go."

I take point and head through the door that used to have the dark magic seal on it, looking for Leona's father.

Billy says
"The entrance is right there. I'm heading back. Hey. I run the alchemy and armor shop. Come by my place later and I'll give you a deal on armor."
With that he leaves.

You head out the door and find yourself on a stone porch viewing the desert. There is a fountain with water next to the stairs. There is tracks in the sand heading out into the desert.

I look out into the desert and sigh slightly, "I think we're being used by him, but I'm not sure to what purpose. He seems to have retained some element of himself... And if Billy was trapped by those roots, it should have been easy for him to simply kill Billy while the roots kept him tied down... But I can't help but feel he lured us here to fight the immortal in these ruins, likely whatever one called up those roots... The worst part is even believing as strongly as I do that we're being used, I think doing what he wants is for now in San Miguel's best interest... I want to help purify his curse, but destroying an immortal this close to town is too important to delay in the process."

I turn to Selene and Leona, "That's my opinion at least, but it's more personal to the two of you, so I defer to your decisions. If you want, I think with Vadahf and Herme's help I can still run him down."

---------- Below are the two actions I would take, depending on Selene/Leona's

If they decide so I'll internally call out to Vadahf and Hermes, <i> This immortal is incredibly fast. I believe if the three of us focus our efforts that we can overtake him. Hermes, do you remember when we were racing in my soulscape? I harnessed the power of lightning to keep pace. I can't do that in this plane, or not without help. Vadahf, do you think you could extend the aura of your blade and meld into mine temporarily, guarding me against the negative effects of lightning while Hermes and I draw upon it for its speed?"

If so, that's exactly what I'm going to try. I'll step forward into the desert and once Vadahf has done her part, I'll get into a stance to begin my sprint and reach out towards the elemental air, with Hermes help and draw upon it all. I'm imagining a storm cloud forming as I focus the energy over the course of a minute and the ritual being finished by a  bolt of lightning striking down to me. When it gets within fractions of an inch it will strike the conduit that is my aura melded with Vadahfs, and course around me but not strike out at me. This will allow me to draw upon it's energy using the mote pump and rocket forward after the immortal. I'll release a loud shout of exhilaration as I rocket forward.

-----Option if they decide to follow him another day-----

"Well, let's continue on then." and I'll head back into the corridor with the Boulder and check out the first room on the left.


OOC) I've been thinking of how to do something cool with Vadahf and Hermes for a while, to show off the bond they have due to the unique nature of Vadahf's creation and the affinity between their elements and also bond to me.

Leona says
"Billy said that he was trapped by the root but not tied down. Still the Vampire did have him cornered. He should be dead. So you are probably right about being used. We got a lead on him now. We should follow him."

Selene says
"His Vampirism has already seeped into the core of his being.There is no way to cure that without killing him. But his mind also seems clouded. Maybe..."

Lita says.
"Will we be able to keep up if your plan works? Facing a Vampire alone is dangerous."

In the Distance, about a mile or two away, A Pyramid rises out of the Sand.

I'll leave it up to you if you still want to do the Lightning Speed Boost. Both Hermes and Vadahf think it will work.

"I'm not a big believer in there not being a way. If his mind is still there, I'll do whatever I can to help. It's the least that I owe you all."

Then when Lita asks if I'll be able to bring them, "I... I don't think I can safely. I'm planning to harness lightning, and while Vadahf helps me keep it at bay from frying me, Hermes and I can then pull on that harnessed lightning to catch up... I feel like I can do this,but I don't think I can bring you all. Once I'm there, I need to convince him that he needs to focus on his mind and self. In that time you can all hopefully catch up. Possibly with Selene teleporting to me and bringing you all with if she can."

I then begin drawing in the power I'll need and go forth with my plans. Right before launching myself forward I'll smile and say to Lita, "don't worry, I don't go down so easy."

When I get there I'll shout out to the immortal, "Wait! I know who you are! You're Selene and Leona's father. I need you to concentrate, to focus on your sense of self. We can help you."

Selene Says
"Hold on. Let me tag you so that I can target you with a teleport."

I assume you let her.
She draws a cross like sigil on your hand with dark essence. It feels of hatred, spite, death, fear, lies, treachery, blasphemy, malice, corruption, despair, resistance, persistence,funerals, death, caves, mines, graveyards,  dirges, inky blackness  and shadows.

Selene looks uncomfortable
"Sorry about how my power feel. I know how unpleasant it is."

You proform your ritual saturating the area with wind essence. You twist it into a storm then direct a lightning strike into yourself. You draw on Vadahf's power over lightning to shield yourself and keep it around you. You activate your mote pump and the elemental essence of electricity courses through your body. It NEEDS to MOVE, NEEDS to be IN MOTION. You direct it towards where the vampire went. And in a flash you are at the Pyramid. A door is swinging shut.

I do let her.

----

I look at Selene with profound sadness as I feel all of that. "I didn't know how terrible it felt. I'm so sorry Selene, that you have to deal with that... but thank you, come as soon as you can."

-----

Having crossed the distance, and having this coursing lightning that needs to move and flow I launch it towards the door, fearing that if it closes we won't be able to open it again. Hopefully the release of the contained energy destroys the door. Afterwards I'll shout out as I approach the door,

"I want to help you. Focus on your sense of self. Focus on your daughters. Please, we can find a way to fix this."

I'm hoping the others follow shortly after Selene senses I have stopped moving at the blistering pace of lightning. I'm hoping that with me talking about his sense of self and his daughters, and them appearing, will help him grab control from his curse. I'm infusing my words with motes of water, attuned to a sense of empathy and hoping to get a sense of him and his mind.

-------
She nods.
-------

You burst through the door with the power of lightning.
You enter a room that is about 30 ft long and 50 ft wide. The vampire is in the room. The other teleport next to you.

Your words strike hard with both Leona and Selene there.
He replies
"Stay Away!
Don't come near me! Heart... sinking... into...Darkness..."

He screams in pain, you sense that he is rapidly losing control of himself. Another darkness is controlling his darkness.

"Run...! Run away, Leona!"

You hear an inky smooth young mans voice laugh.

The vampire's shadow pools up and turns into a pale white young man with pale white hair and blood red eyes.