Draith
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Chapter 135 - Down Where It's Wetter
🕑 Added 2025-06-18 14:00:15 +0000 UTCInstead of leaving that evening, we decided to wait until morning. Mostly so I could tell Tamrie myself and spare the poor sentry. Though I did get a good story out of the exchange.
Turned out people thought I'd already made her into a mage…
Much as Calbern grumbled, Fang wasn't a good choice of conveyance for getting to the Golden Halls. The ridges that direction were even rougher than most, and we hadn't started putting any roads through either.
Considering how well Calbern had taken to flying, I was little surprised how much he still preferred Fang. But I guess that just cause he was good at it, that didn't mean it was as much fun. Fang did have a good bit more visceral energy to it. He was in his specially modified glider, which had been modified once more. It still didn't have a canopy, but it at least let him fly through the storm without attracting lightning.
It wasn't a surprise that he was soaked when we landed on the cliff above where Bevel and I had taken our trip so long ago. A few seconds after we were out, Inertia buzzed over us, carrying her payload down to the water below. Flew so close she managed to shake some of the rain right off Calbern. The rest followed a second later as I cast a storm Shield on him. He simply inclined his head slightly in my direction as we all walked towards the path.
I'd considered diving down directly, but the gliders hadn't been designed to be aquatic. And while I’d gone back to pick up the new granitas engine from conflict, there was a lot to do before we’d have a working airship.
The vehicle Inertia had carried down with her wasn’t anything particularly revolutionary, but it’d serve to get us close enough to dive.
We joined her a short time later, after making the treacherous descent. While I’d made several improvements on the way down, I'd definitely be putting the steps inside if it turned out there was anything worth regular visits.
The platform Bevel and I ate our lunch on the last time we were there had become completely submerged. If I'd thought the tides in summer got big, the Howling season's were ten times worse.
In place of the platform was the three pontoon boat Inertia had carried. Was pretty sure they had a specific name, but whatever it was, the memories of the design hadn't included it. Either way, it was called a storm-runner in Spellford, so that's what we called it too. Apparently they were pretty stable. Especially after Xoth had added several more enchantments to keep it that way.
We descended to take up our spots in the center, Inertia letting go of the line once we were aboard, pushing off from where she'd been clinging to the cliff to take up her position above.
“An excellent day for an adventure, wouldn’t you agree, master Percival?” Calbern yelled over the roaring waves.
“You’re crazy, you know that right?” I replied, unable to keep a grin off my face as we secured ourselves to the storm-runner.
His own answering grin told me all I needed as we set off from the shore. Finding the Golden Halls in this weather was probably a bit risky, which was obviously a perk to Calbern. But in a way, we were actually safer doing it in the middle of a storm. The abundant mana meant I was better off than when we didn’t have a storm over head.
And as for Inertia and Calbern…
Inertia dove down, ignoring the bolt of lightning that smashed into her as she snatched a fish as big as I was from the choppy waves.
Meanwhile Calbern bounced back and forth between the pontoons as he checked the boat over for damage.
Yeah… neither of them really had a problem with the storm.
Having confirmed the storm-runner was good, Calbern activated the Forgeheart driven propeller and we lurched forward. It was a little underpowered, since there was only a single Inferno drake Forgeheart providing thrust but considering we only needed it for what should be a short trip, it was more than enough for our purposes.
I clung to the low rail near the side, keeping my eyes fixed on the water, Reveal Magic active. The location was surprisingly easy to find. All the local mana was flowing towards it. It was a sluggish thing, but as soon as I noticed it, it stood out like a bolt of lighting.
Glancing up at the sky, where the mana bolts of lightning there were mostly going unnoticed, I decided that maybe that hadn't been my best simile.
In a few minutes, we were right on top of the mana sink, though I couldn't see anything through the dark waves. "This is it," I called over to Calbern as I cast the anchor over. It didn't take long to find a hold, the enchantment holding it in place, even if it failed to snag something.
“Shall we unveil the secrets of the ancients, master Percival?” He asked, after shutting down the Forgeheart and joining me at the rope.
“Kinda the plan,” I said, with one last glance below. Then I cast Water Breathing on both of us, glad we’d already changed into tighter clothes before we left Tetherfall.
Clothes that were… a bit too tight in certain places.
Something we'd wordlessly agreed not to comment on.
Calbern dove into the water while I slid down the rope. The water was surprisingly warm, reminding me that despite the elevation of my territory, and the amount of cold that elevation entailed, we were on the equator.
I pulled myself down along the anchor line, casting my gaze about once I was under. Down beneath the waves, I could almost forget the storm that had dominated the skies for the last couple months.
Moving my attention downward, I found Calbern waving at me.
I followed him as best I could, though I wasn't the strongest swimmer. I'd been unconsciously holding my breath since I'd descended, and as I reached him, I finally opened my mouth. Thankfully, water didn't come rushing in. Instead, I realized the spell had fashioned a small shield over my face, filtering breathable air out of the water. A function I'd known at one point, but had forgotten.
The spell was amazingly efficient. I could probably keep it going forever and not notice, even without the abundant water mana in the… Ah, right, it was mostly water mana down here. Guess exploring during a storm didn't matter after all.
I followed Calbern deeper, wishing I'd prepared a spell that would let me move more easily through the water. I had at least one, I was pretty sure. My grimoire was starting to get pretty crowded.
Unlike my grimoire, the nearby sea life was surprisingly thin, with only a bunch of green seaweed and a few clams nearby.
After a few minutes of struggling to swim downward, a distance that had taken Calbern less than ten seconds, Calbern pointed out what had caught his attention. It was the Waygate. Obviously damaged, though not so bad I couldn't fix it. Good news, though I’d want to protect it from the ocean first. That’d be a later project though.
According to the map, the Golden Halls would be within less than a hundred feet of the Waygate. Reactivating Reveal Magic, I confirmed that the flows were being sucked down about fifty feet east of it.
I waved Calbern closer. Then once I could grab onto his back, I pointed at the distant spot.
He arched an eyebrow at me, but then shot off like a dolphin, pulling me along with him. Embarrassing, if anyone had been around to see it. Thankfully, we had all that nice water in the way.
The entrance was mostly buried, but once he set me down, I used Sculpt Stone to rebuild a section of it. As I worked, I got a better look at the surroundings. There'd been an entire amphitheatre at some point, all of the steps leading towards the center, but it was all covered in rubble.
The structure in the center was still intact, and it held sparkling transparent doors that were engraved with golden lines, that became more clear as I worked. It kinda looked like an octagonal gazebo, except with a pair of doors on four of its sides.
Those lines were slurping up any mana within ten feet of them, making it difficult to continue using Sculpt Stone. We had to clear the remaining rubble by hand. As we worked we had to take breaks both to restore our lungs and so I could recast Water Breathing, which kept coming unraveled if we spent too long close to the gazebo.
Thankfully, the effect didn't seem to affect my storage ring, though it did make it so I couldn't access it.
The combination meant it took us a couple hours to clear the rubble, though a solid fifteen minutes of that was Calbern surfacing to tell Inertia while I took an actual break. Turned out that heavy exercise while holding your breath was pretty draining. Restore Form kept us from dealing with the physical side of it, but the constant stress of having to hold my breath while feeling my magic get ripped away and carrying heavy stone wasn’t so easily swept to the side.
Least, not for me.
When Calbern came back, we continued, and eventually, we moved enough that the doors could swing open. Which meant I just had to cast the spell to… open…
Cast…
I swore, bubbles escaping my mouth as I stepped back.
I got a mouthful of water before I could recast Water Breathing. Spitting the strangely thick feeling salty water out, I watched it get pulled away by the spell as I glared at the gazebo doing the opposite to all the mana in the area.
My first thought was to try casting the Spellcode from further back.
It… didn't work.
Calbern arched an eyebrow at me, but I waved him off, thinking. Obviously, Balthum had dealt with this. There hadn't been any mention of it in his notes, so how had he used the Spellcode without using spells? I mean… how did anyone use a Spellcode without casting spells?
They used a damn Keystone.
Looking at all the work we'd done, I looked around the amphitheater. For a second, I was struck by the temptation to wall the whole area off and drain it. And maybe I would. Later.
For the moment, I waved Calbern back from the gate and sat down, rifling through my storage ring for an appropriate material, then started enchanting it. Was thankful enchanting didn't rely on air like some types of welding. The salt water did slow the process a little but it only took about an hour, time Calbern used to investigate the rest of the amphitheater.
Once I was done, I inspected the Keystone, double checking my work. I pulled my grimoire, glad that waterproofing was one of the most basic enchantments worked into even the cheapest of grimoires.
As I was looking over my notes, I realized why it'd been such a pain to solve Balthum's work. It'd always been meant to be put in a Keystone. There was even a diagram on the next page, unlabeled. There was literally nothing to adapt. He’d just forgotten to write down that simple fact.
Chuckling to myself while shaking my head, I confirmed the Keystone was correct, then put my grimoire away.
Tapping Calbern on the shoulder, I held up the stone and nodded towards the golden doors.
He looked down at the stone, then over at the doors. Then he made a pushing motion with his hands.
Sighing, I shook my head, not understanding what he was getting at.
He pointed back towards the anchor, then he motioned to all the water around us, and back to the doors, then made a pushing motion again.
What was he…
Oh. He wasn't pointing at the anchor. He was pointing at the Waygate. The same Waygate that had failed when the ocean decided to come pouring through. And he was worried about the same thing happening to the golden doors.
Valid concern. I suspected they were warded against that sort of thing, but I could be wrong.
Another couple of hours later, I'd shaped a dome over the gates, just out of range of the mana-draining effect. I didn't have a spell that would empty the dome of water. There might've been some way to build an airlock to do so, but I figured it could handle a few hundred cubic feet worth of water.
I gestured towards the door again, holding up the Spellkey once more.
This time Calbern nodded and we moved to the doors together. Hours of moving heavy rock underwater had slightly improved my ability to navigate and I was only a few steps behind him by the time he reached the gate.
Holding up the Keystone, I pressed it against the nexus of magical flows.
The doors slid open, pushing through the water and holding it at bay. I turned to glare at Calbern and he just offered a slight smile in response.
Then we stepped through.
