The red glow of the setting sun basks Sandmyst Point in the shadow of early evening as the shimmering air of the desert parts to reveal a tired and sand coated party. The shapes dismount and head for the dying life of the bazaar as shops begin to close up for the evening and taverns open. Heri takes the sand elk back alone, muttering and whispering to them as he goes.

“Did you get it?” Zylnan asks as they approach ‘Patient Potions’, leaning against the wall.

“Let’s just go in,” Charles sighs as the party files in, each carrying a thick burlap sack of salvaged reagents. Zips pushes Zylnan and he follows the others in as she takes up position loitering in his recently vacated spot. She giggles as a magical hand appears before her and she directs it towards the closing market stalls, playing havoc with their merchandise and those that pass the thin alleyway.

The apothecary looks up from his grungy workspace and immediately becomes more animated.

“You’re back! Did you find me partner? Did ye find Jinto?”

“Oh…” Charles mutters. “No… Your caravan was quite destroyed.” The man’s expression freezes and his eyes drop to the floor.

“Oh…Jinto’s gone then?”

“I assume so… there was quite a lot of scorpions and scorpion-hybrid people… but we did manage to secure a fair amount of your goods.”

“Thank… Thank ye for that. What did you manage to salvage?” his voice held but it was clear he was fighting through suppressed emotion. The others move forward and place their stuffed bags on the counter. He begins to search through it as the silence in the room stretches out uncomfortably.

“I shoulda stayed outside…” Zylnan grumbles. The man looks up at the disturbance as if remembering the arrayed party members.

“You got most of it actually, the important stuff. Thank you so much, if this had vanished my shop would have been ruined… Wh… What was it you wanted again?”

“Waterbreathing?” Charles prompted.

“And how many ye wantin?” 

“Maybe seven?” He looked around at those arrayed and they all nodded in confirmation. “Yes, seven. How long do they last?”

“Bout an hour.” Charles nodded again and the man inclined his head. “Aye, it’ll take me a little while. Ye can pick em up tomorrow morning. I’ll leave em by the door for ye. Thank ye again. Take this for your troubles.” He holds out four red potions. “These’ll heal ye up nice in a pinch.” Charles takes the offered potions and hands them out amongst the party.

The stifled choking of the apothecary fills the sound of the room as he begins to unpack the salvaged reagents. The party shares several uncomfortable glances as they shuffle towards the exit.

“Getting a strong vibe we should have saved this man?” Tyrvaan grumbles.

“Me too… keep walking…,” Charles finishes and the party heads out into the dry air of the deserts late evening, turning towards their tent and a night of undisturbed rest, except for one.

Heri awakes in a glade, one now familiar to him. 

The sky churns above and Heri peers around, noting the blackened patch of dead grass, the white stone at the centre of the glade and the chain resting atop it. A breeze flows through and upon the wind hangs the gentle voice of his queen, one he would never forget, for it is life and light.

“Soon. It approaches. Save her. Save yourself.”

“I hear you!” Heri shouts as the leaves begin to shake beneath the growing gale.

“Time passes… for you.”

“How will I find him?” Heri continues, but his answer doesn’t come and the wind dies to nothing. Heri curses beneath his breath and sets off in the direction the wind blew, northwest. He freezes as he passes the great white stone and turns to it slowly. Across its surface, new sylvan runes glitter below those of the longma ‘Kili’Nar Elit’. Heri peers down on them and swallows hard as he finishes the translation.

‘Two hearts, one life,
Such is the cost...’

A crack severs the last words and Heri reaches down to feel the grooves. As his hand touches the fractured stone a burst of light springs forth in the form of a red firefly. It pierces Heri’s hand and images flash through his head.

The magnificent form of Kili’Nar Elit, chained within a dungeon. Surrounded by humans draped in desert cloths wielding vicious implements of pain.

Heri recoils at the sight, feeling physical suffering at the events. The stone slowly fuses back together, revealing the last few runes.

‘...to live again.”

Heri falls to the ground before this altar, his mind a shredded montage of sights and sensations as he seeks to piece together what he has just seen.

The world flashes and he finds himself sitting upright once more within his tent, sweat soaked and panting heavily in the dry desert night. He stands and sneaks through the sleeping forms of the party, poking Charles awake.

“Yeah! I’m up,” he exclaims as he jumps upright, blinking the sleep from his eyes. Heri gestures towards the tent flap and they move beyond the senses of the others.

“I saw your people hurting Kili’Nar Elit. Is there a dungeon or place your people would keep him?” Charles blows out a slow breath.

“The capital has large prisons, but so do the other four great cities. Sab’Dubar is my best guess? Maybe Sab’Narath, Sab’Itzel or Sab’Adul? We don’t really do prisons? I doubt a fey creature would be taken to a normal one…” Heri interrupts his musing and shares his vision with Charles, finishing with the question that most plagues her mind.

“Two hearts, one life, such is the cost to live again. What do you think it means? And there was the voice… that said I have to save myself.” Charles’ brow furrows as he looks to the tiny metallic remains of the broken amulet hanging from a simple string upon Heri’s chest.

“You died before… didn’t you?” Heri’s eyes widen, but as the sound of others stirring becomes clear he shakes his head. Charles nods, understanding the gesture for secrecy, as the rest of the party emerges from the tent.

“Well that man was rude?” Zips mumbles, sticking her tongue out at the guards.

“Just doing his job,” Charles replies, holding up Sephina’s pass.  Luna’s eyes don’t leave the guards as they pass, her head turning all the way around.

The party passes through the gate and looks down the stacked stone cut plateaus and winding staircase that weaves all the way to the oasis. Several squat pumping stations with huge pipes sit nearby and the reflective waters show the huge banners and cloths tied to long poles above in an attempt to keep the desert sun from the water's surface.

The stairs lead out over the water and connect to an ancient stepped structure that disappears below its surface, like the top of a great sunken pyramid.

“Does it look like the vision to you?” Charles mutters to Zylnan as Zips begins running down the steps towards the water.

“It looks kind of like the quarry I saw?” Zylnan replies, looking around. The two continue to compare what they saw to what lies before them as a tiny voice calls from the distant waters’ edge.

“Last one in smells!” And Zipz dives into the smooth reflective water, leaving a small patch of brown sand and dirt on the surface behind her. Her boots hang above the stone platform upon a summoned hand in the air. She laughs as she bursts from the water, squirting water from her mouth and begins to splash around.

“We drink this…,” Charles gags and follows the staircase down to the platform to join the others. He peers at the ancient text on the floor and cocks an eyebrow. The carvings look fresh and make no sense, as if someone merely tried to copy the language from other runes without any modicum of understanding. He shrugs and peers around for any other signs of a pathway.

Heri stops and her ears prick up as Zips stops her splashing and looks around. Tyrvaan growls at the serenity of this place, his years of battle putting him on edge during moments of peace and he turns as a distant sound tickles his ears. His fears are soon founded as the resounding thump of footsteps and shouts break the silence. He glares back up the stairs and growls once more as a solitary figure appears over the cliffs waving their arms. Sephina.

“Of course,” Tyrvaan grumbles as two more tall shadows and a wide shorter shape follow. The sound of shouts and thundering feet grows and dozens more shapes crest the rise, dressed in desert robes and brandishing weapons. Arrows and darts fly behind them, landing just short and skittering across the rocky plateaus, and those that do find their aim are bashed from the air by the armoured dwarf.

Zipz scrambles from the water and tugs her boots back on as Charles sighs, putting his hand to his chest and magical transparent armour encases him. Ballen readies his halberd and the others line up at the bottom of the stairs. 

“Should we help them?” Zylnan shouts and several flick their gaze back and forth between the fifty or so approaching hostiles and the oasis’ inviting waters. Charles runs to the altar and begins to frantically scry for any clues of entry. Nothing reveals itself and he turns towards Talkoris, sending a thought to the running prince.

‘You look like you have your hands full. Should we help, or jump in the water?’

‘Galenten’s men caught up with us. Jump in, we have our potions!’

“Time to go!” Charles announces, downing his potion and diving into the water. The rest follow suit jumping in with varying degrees of grace. Tyrvaan stands guard as the others dive in and as Misxibis downs her potion and prepares to jump he turns and launches himself head first into the water. Misxibis rolls her eyes and freezes as the light echo of smashing glass stops her in her tracks. She peers up and sees the prone form of Revin scrambling around upon stairs as the contents of his potion evaporate into the air.

Ignin seizes him by the scruff of his neck and in one motion heaves him to his feet. He shoves his potion into his hand, exchanges a few terse words and pushes him down the stairs after Sephina and Talkoris, turning towards the approaching crowd. Talkoris skids to a stop, but is pulled on by Sephina. The heavily armoured form of Ignin bashes several arrows from the air and launches two axes, felling the forward most two enemies. Another reaches him and he steps into them, cutting him down in one devastating blow. Others charge and begin to force Ignin back along the plateau, their focus now entirely on him. Misxibis turns as the bubbles of her sinking party rise to the waters’ surface and follows them in.

The water flows into her mouth and she struggles for a moment at the uncomfortable sensation before succumbing and floating downwards beneath the weight of her clothes and belongings passing the darkened shapes of Zips and Heri as they struggle to sink. The light fades as the pressure of the water presses in on them. 

Tyrvaan clunks to the unnaturally crafted stony ground. Plants sprout around them as lights spring to being above. He gazes up as Zylnan and Ballen land around him. The lights spiral above, orbiting the falling Charles and as he lands he gives a thumbs up to the others. The remaining members land, some with difficulty as they struggle to stop floating and Charles gestures forward as the form of Talkoris, Sephina and Revin join them. 

The going is slow and the added weight takes its toll as the party slogs along a rough path beneath the crushing pressures of the oasis. Its natural contours lead the party towards a cave and they enter.

Lights appear ahead and Charles dismisses the orbs as rocks and reefs begin to shine with a gentle bioluminescence. They cast the wide cave in dim light as the party chooses an arbitrary path from the multiple tunnels and carries on their way. Cracks and crevices appear at varying intervals, garnering looks from the passing party as they peer down into the luminous depths before swimming on.

 Charles pauses at the entrance to a side tunnel as a flicker of shadow moves in the deep recesses of the darkness. He holds his arms up, an orb of light appearing before him and it shoots off through the water, illuminating all around them and vanishing around the corner. The light re-appears moments later and Charles turns to Talkoris and shrugs. He flashes a reassuring thumbs up and they swim on, choosing a tunnel at random. 

A bright light source beams from around a far corner and all swim for it. Several pause to look back along their trail, looking for what they do not know, before continuing on after the others. At the crossroads of several tunnels all come to a stop and peer into the illuminated cavern. It shines with algae and white luminous stones, and piled across the floor are hundreds of bleached white bones.

Misxibis reaches forward as an unnerving feeling settles at the bottom of her skull and leans forward to the closest person, Revin. He turns at her touch and she waves wildly behind her. Revin peers over her shoulder into the darker tunnel and shakes his head before waving Misxibis away.

Talkoris, Sephina, Zylnan and Charles swim down towards the bones and detritus as the others turn to each other, slowly spinning to the tunnels behind them, and find Misxibis gone. Heri waves frantically and begins slapping at those nearby as his missing friend becomes apparent and gestures down the tunnel they emerged from. Zipz’ eyes widen and she hurries past Heri and back along the tunnel, pulling her rapier. 

Metal harpoons shoot from the darkness and Zips spins to the side as the tip flies past her towing a dark rope. Others scatter as more appear from the darkness of another tunnel. Tyrvaan’s strong strokes take him past Zipz and the form of two scaled creatures come into view through the darkness. Their long sleek tails ended in humanoid torsos with large fins along their back and arms, metal tridents and harpoons in hand. Square ridged faces with tentacles and sharp teeth stare out with ravenous eyes as they reel the entangled Misxibis in.

Tyrvaan ignores the horrifying visage of the Merrows, instead holding a hand out to the thrashing Misxibis as green fire enshrouds her body, flows along the harpoon and up the creatures’ arm. A bubble of light appears around her as the fire fully leaves her body and consumes the monster. Lights flow up the tunnel illuminating the creatures and Charles waves his hand. A skeleton mockery of his hand appears above the creature holding Misxibis and seizes its body. Black broken tissue spreads out from its touch and the monster recoils.

Zips shoots through the water, passing all others as she reaches Misxibis and stabs upwards at one of the creatures, piercing its back and penetrating deep. A dark viscous liquid streams from the hole as she pulls her rapier out.

An arrow, propelled by Heri’s superhuman strength and the force of Zylnan’s magical blast, shoots past Zipz’ ear, through the scales of the same creature and embeds itself deeply in the Merrow’s flesh. The blast's shockwave throws those around the creature forward, sending Zips slamming into its scaled tail. Misxibis pulls the harpoon from her shoulder and untangles herself, driving her rapier upwards into her attacker's shoulder. The creature flails and swipes back, its claws raking through the holy shield and cutting deep across her chest.

Sephina and Talkoris turn at the back of the group as more dark shadows flow from another tunnel's entrance, their shapes resolving into three more of the monsters. The movements draw Tyrvaan and Heri’s attention, a little too late, as a harpoon slams into Heri’s back and yanks him towards the Merrow’s, his body flailing uselessly in the water. The creature distends its mouth, clamping down deeply onto his neck with needle-like teeth and a dark red cloud of blood fills the water around them. 

Tyrvaan pushes himself towards Heri, reaching out a glowing claw and clamping it down on his shoulder. Radiant light pulses through his body, knitting closed the deep wound in his neck and surrounding him in a bubble of pure light, before swimming back towards the others. Ballen fills the spot he just vacated, squeezing in between Talkoris and Heri and drives his Halberd forward with startling speed and into their adversary’s chest. The water before them begins to shake, thickening as the pressure mounts and begins to crush the Merrows. Heri casts a glance back to find Charles’ arm wreathed in magic as he channels the powerful gravity spell and nods in approval, drawing her hand-axe and slamming it into the Merrow facing her.

Zipz lashes out again, piercing the thick hide of the Merrow before her and emitting another trail of dark liquid into the water. Misxibis waves her hand and the deep hole in her shoulder glows and closes as the Merrow slashes through her glowing shield and bites down hard on her neck. She spasms from the pain and as it releases her, her body begins to sink lifelessly to the bottom of the cavern floor. 

Tyrvaan pushes forward and grabs the body of Misxibis, channelling light along his claws and into her body, closing the deep wounds. Her eyes snap open with a flash of desperation as she peers around the dim, chaotic cavern, falling on her saviour and nods her thanks.

Talkoris and Sephina lash out with blinding speed, cutting great globs of flesh from the Merrow’s around them as several balls of Revin’s magical fire stream past and collide with the Merrow’s scaled skin.

The Merrow before Zylnan slashes deeply into his chest sending puffs of red blossoming through the water. Zipz appears behind it and plunges the rapier through its neck and out its eye. The body shakes and begins to sink, sliding from the end of the rapier and drifting downwards. Zylnan nods and swims up towards the Merrow before Misxibis, plunging his sword into the scaly hide of the monsters’ back. As the creature turns to its new assailant Misxibis opens her mouth in a soundless scream and drives her dagger deep into its chest. Light encompasses her being and her wounds shrink to a fraction of their former size. 

The Merrow thrashes at its many assailants, but fails on all fronts as Misxibis, Zips and Zylnan put some distance between themselves and the creature. Tyrvaan ignores its wild swiping and pushes his mass through the water, propelled by his long tail. He slams his mace into the creatures’ face and the crunch is audible even through the water. The Monster cartwheels backwards and sinks to the bottom of the tunnel.

Heri dodges back as the Merrow before him bites through the space he vacated, but fails to get out of the way of the wickedly angular claws that rake across her shoulder. He grimaces in response and a green mist surrounds his hand, flowing with leaves and flower petals. He slides it over his wound and the gashes begin to knit shut. Another vicious slash cuts deep into his neck and his eyes begin to flicker as his lifeblood seeps into the waters and his body falls back into the cold tunnel. Ballen grabs at his dying friend, unstoppers his health potion and forces the mixture into his mouth.

A whine of magic fills the space around him as three arcane knives drive through the Merrow beside Ballen. Each causing the creature to spasm in pain and expel clouds of green liquid from its back.

Ballen takes the Merrow’s claw on his arm and clenches his hand more tightly around the shaft of his halberd, ducking further down into the water and driving his halberd up. The metal peals scales and flesh, cutting a wicked groove along its back and he spins it in his hand and plunges it through the exposed flesh and out through its chest. A dark green pool spreads around them obscuring sight of all others, before the current whisks it away. 

Charles grits his teeth at his imperilled friends, waves his arm forward once again and clenches his fist. The water thickens once more and the Merrows struggle to move, their eyes wide with shock and hatred as their bones begin to crack beneath the pressure of his magics. Charles relaxes the strain in his hand and one of the Merrows floats slowly to the broken tunnel floor, while the other swings its harpoon wildly around itself in a warding gesture. 

Heri grits his teeth and in a display of power and speed, shoots through the guard of the thrashing Merrow and buries his axe deeply into the monster’s chest. A swift kick dislodges the creatures’ body from his axe and it floats away into the dark abyss of the cave.

All emit a sigh of relief as the last of the monsters is cast down and peer around for others, before swimming on, eyes alert and bodies broken. Many take the support of their friends to make it on, as little strength and energy remains in them.