Abyssal Road Trip - 350 - One way or another (Patreon)

Amdirlain's PoV - Training ground Demi-Plane

"I'm unsure how quickly I can get confirmation from Bahamut. I'll have to send a message through a friend as Moradin has spoken to me a few times, but I've not met him outside memories," said Amdirlain.

Bahamut’s focus on them increased, and an Avatar came into existence. The Elf had silvery hair, liquid metal eyes and porcelain white skin with blue veins, while his silken shirt and pants were the pale blue of a clear early morning sky.

Seven songbird birds burst into existence, and one landed on Bahamut's shoulder, her trills a scolding reprimand. Compressed within their forms, Amdirlain could see the celestials with true forms of adamantine, gold, and silver dragons.

Silpar immediately snapped his gaze to the ground and bowed his head.

“Hello Bahamut. I certainly wasn’t expecting you to show up. You’ve been keeping your distance,” said Amdirlain.

"That is because it would be too tempting to do too much to assist you," said Bahamut, ignoring the ongoing scolding. "Silpar, you've done much to earn my forgiveness in the openness you’ve shown to Am."

"Lord Bahamut, it is not your forgiveness I seek," demurred Silpar, his eyes still directed towards the ground.

"Perhaps not, but mine might be easier to earn than yours," replied Bahamut.

Silpar shook his head without raising it a millimetre. "I failed my Goddess' ways, and she is not alive to forgive me."

"There are ways to speak to the essence of deceased deities. Fortunately, you're aiding one who might eventually be strong enough," replied Bahamut with a calm smile before he turned his attention to Amdirlain. "I cannot help you in those depths, and one who could isn't inclined to do so."

"If she continues to have her dragons eat Moloch's representatives, that's aid enough," replied Amdirlain.

Bahamut smiled. "You need not worry about helpful information reaching him through the chromatic dragons. Some truths never carried beyond the individual Dragon. Ori ensured that was the case."

The memories of Orhêthurin's closed-off state had Amdirlain wrinkling her nose. "She was a touch paranoid and untrusting."

"Later on, yes, but not when she was young," said Bahamut, and he motioned Amdirlain to walk with him.

The songbirds landed on nearby rocks, the one that had scolded him the last to leave his side. Amdirlain could sense a barrier around them, holding in sound and vision from even sensitive Draconic perception.

"I know, but later I could just imagine her tracking down everyone and removing their recollections regardless of their minimal details," replied Amdirlain. "After all, Claughuthruuazex knew of her as an Anar. Despite being Sarah’s child, she’d kept the truth from him. Given that. I thought it likely she did so from a host of other dragons."

After glancing at Silpar again, Bahamut frowned at Amdirlain in concern. "You think your death is a likelihood of being freed from the curse?"

"You peeked," accused Amdirlain.

Bahamut tilted his head towards Silpar.

Okay, but listening to minds is still peeking. However, I'm hardly one to point fingers in that regard.

"Gideon's hinted at some things that make me think I'll be alright, but I don't know. He can predict how things might turn out but doesn't know. Also, his perspective on what is alright and mine might differ."

"I could take you from this realm and place your consciousness fully intact in the body of a young Dragon or an Elf," offered Bahamut. "You're free of the vines now. Your Soul would have access to your True Song in other realms."

Amdirlain gave him a wry smile. "There is that ‘too much’ of an offer. I wouldn't take it without trying to fix the wound."

"And after that, you'll find a different reason," observed Bahamut, and he gave her a fond smile.

"I've got dozens of reasons I wouldn't leave my friends behind nor ask them to leave their friends and loved ones to come with me," agreed Amdirlain firmly.

Bahamut huffed happily. "You're still a stubborn and lovely child, even in this incarnation. You've honed the Willpower that Ori used to possess into a fine blade. Finding your own path is a good thing."

"I don't suppose you've got any advice about regaining memories without drowning in them?" asked Amdirlain.

"Finding your own path is a good thing," repeated Bahamut.

"That's what I figured, but I thought I'd try," laughed Amdirlain. "Since Ms T isn't inclined to help, is there any other place we might find aid in the depths?"

At Amdirlain’s reference to Tiamat, Bahamut’s mouth twitched with suppressed laughter. "My understanding is that those in the depths are very territorial. Wherever the wound is located, Balnérith wouldn't have been able to work on it if it was in another's territory."

Amdirlain nodded. "At least not without offering something of great value to them. I'll start by searching outside whatever territories I can sense. That cuts down the areas I'll need to search once I’m deep enough. I'll also put monitors in place to tag any Succubus coming through if Balnérith manages to get them to return to the wound."

"Ori used to travel to any place directly when she wished. I don't know if you’ll already be able to do so with the deeper planes or how much stronger in True Song you'd need to get to accomplish that," advised Bahamut.

"Another goal to work towards," said Amdirlain, giving Bahamut a nod of appreciation. "Since it's been made clear Gideon and the Titan don't know what Ori did with her power, I assume you don't know either."

"That would be a correct assumption."

Amdirlain stopped and leaned against a boulder sticking out of the rocky terrain. "Is Silpar trustworthy‌?"

"He wouldn't still be sitting there if I didn't believe him worthy of a chance," replied Bahamut with an edged smile.

"I hoped you wouldn’t spray him across the countryside," said Amdirlain. “You stuck your nose in to recruit him after all.”

Bahamut's expression turned stony. "That would lock him to a few planes for a hundred years and be free to communicate. You've shared enough that I'd seal him away until you were free of the curse."

You shared the core. I just showed him some of what I can do.

"I'm thinking of giving Roher two songs to see if they might do the same," admitted Amdirlain.

"Enemies can either hone you or break you, but removing them without cause can turn others against you," warned Bahamut. "It's important to pick your time carefully, especially if they might yet be redeemed."

The sense of Bahamut's focusing on her fully caught Amdirlain's attention. "Trying to peek to see how I am?”

"Just a little worried after the Eldritch. How are you?"

Amdirlain grinned. "I managed, given it was my first extended run in with them. Very curious about why you sent Goxashru my way."

"You've not used Goxashru's aid as much as I thought you might. Though you did resolve the situation on his world cleaner than I had hoped," replied Bahamut.

"Are there other worlds where the formithians are giving your locals grief?" asked Amdirlain.

Bahamut frowned. "They're not as they were aeons in the past, but my worlds aren’t normally where they intrude. Though with the Eldritch, you've taken on the greater threat to the realm."

Amdirlain caught his concern concealed behind the calm expression. "Are there worlds that the Eldritch issue could use more help?"

"There are," admitted Bahamut with a slight nod. "Despite priesthoods in place, certain threats are better sealed away than merely killed."

"If you'd provide the worlds' names, I'll line up things with Goxashru when I've time," replied Amdirlain, and she motioned towards Silpar. "After all, you helped and recruited a guide to save me exploration time."

"Thank you, Amdirlain. Though it would make things easier, there is no urgency as the summoned celestials and dragons have them in check,” said Bahamut. Plucking a memory crystal from the air, he handed it over as the spatial energies faded.

Amdirlain nodded. “I’ll line up trips to visit in between investigations in the Abyss.”

“Ensure you take your investigations into the depths carefully. There are at least sixty planes, so it's not as if you're in the last few metres of a race. A few centuries or millennia of steady progress would be better than a decade of rushing that ends in destruction," said Bahamut.

That's if we have that time.

Nodding, Amdirlain turned the crystal over in her fingers. "I'll push my abilities higher so I don't get in over my head."

“I’ve heard you’ve made much progress with True Song. Silpar can help you with combat skills,” said Bahamut, and he and the songbirds vanished.

Amdirlain stored the crystal in Inventory before smiling at Silpar. "Lead the way to the depths if you would, Silpar."

“Impatience. I’d suggest you wait, but perhaps seeing the easiest issues you’ll face might give you perspective,” replied Silpar.

Silpar also used the approach of opening a Gate to the Elemental Plane of Earth first, but soon they were back on Ijmti. Ahead lay a barren expanse with the typical lush overgrowth of the Plane nowhere to be seen.

The expanse’s sandy soil trickled along in a rough whirlpool that kicked up a haze of dust. A kilometre ahead, it started at a gentle five-degree slope but had changed to a thirty-degree angle after another kilometre before plunging downwards. Resonance showed that beyond the lip, the hole descended at eighty-five degrees towards the rift's event horizon some two kilometres below the ground. Despite its appearance, the hole felt like a spike had been driven through the Plane.

Amdirlain sighed. "I'm guessing the holes from one Plane to the next don't line up?"

"You wouldn't need a guide if they did," replied Silpar. "For most, it is best to take on whatever form you intend to keep past that point."

The planes have shifted relative position since the hole was punched through.

"Does possessing Protean change that?"

Silpar's tail twitched. "That is the cause of your rapid shapeshifting?"

"An evolution from it," clarified Amdirlain.

"I've not been on speaking terms with any being that possessed it," replied Silpar.

"Let's go," said Amdirlain. Though she remained in her Wood Elf form she took to the air and flew above the haze.

Without changing his form, Silpar followed.

Descending into the pit, Amdirlain took in the massive root systems that extended into the space and drooped towards the rift. Quick melodies created crystals and drove them into the pit's side at an equal distance around its circumference. She set two to record the songs of whatever beings passed through, while the third would try to tag the essence of any Fallen or Succubus.

It wasn't until they were within a hundred metres of the rift's horizon that the landscape beyond it became visible.

Brightly coloured mists of shifting hues provided the only illumination of the next Plane. Their overhead perspective allowed them an uninterrupted view of the wind-tossed ocean that awaited them. Waves the size of skyscrapers seemed poised to crash down at the slightest provocation. Against an endless black sky, the rift showed as a swirling tornado of mist, but it didn't try to draw Amdirlain in.

"Was this Leviathan's Home Plane?"

"My understanding is that the War of the Four finished on the fifth Plane that I'll be able to guide you to," replied Silpar as he drew a spear from storage. "I never found a surface to the waters of that Plane, but I also didn't explore it extensively. The presence of Primordial Mana starts to increase from here, and with no way to retreat quickly, you mustn't overextend yourself. Each planar transition causes an injury until you've got enough Primordial Resistance. Are you sure you don't want to work or train on Ijmti for a time instead?"

"No, let's get moving. I'll keep the recovery issue in mind," replied Amdirlain, and she took in the energies upon the rift's farside and then flew into it. The transition across planes was a brutal pressure that invoked images of being caught between the Abyss' molars as it tried to grind her apart and stretch her out.

[Resistance: Primordial [GR] (1->2)]

Amdirlain felt her regeneration repairing the ruptures that the transition had caused and kept alert for dangers. As she started to take in the Plane's wild song, Silpar appeared beside her.

He scanned the skies about the rift before focusing on the waters and pointed off at a roughly thirty degrees angle to their left. "There is an underwater mountain that way, and the next rift can be found on its side. The trench beneath us can be seen by observing the darker water at the base of the waves. It will lead us directly to the base of the mountain we seek, but don't go beneath the waves here."

Amdirlain listened and felt a Dragon's essence mingled in the waves. "A Great Wyrm claims them, but I can't tell the type."

"Hopefully we don't meet it. Many of the primordial entities in the Abyss are easier to fight than a Great Wyrm," replied Silpar. "I followed the odour of the succubi through the mists of this Plane, so I never had to delve into the waters until reaching the next rift. How fast can you fly?"

"Likely nowhere near as fast as you. I'm used to operating on the ground," admitted Amdirlain. "My two powers that can keep me aloft are only Master rank."

"I'll show you to the next Plane, but I suggest we return at that point. The next Plane we need to transverse, it will be important to have your capability with Flight much higher to avoid trouble."

Silpar flew down until he appeared to be body surfacing the wave’s crest, but Amdirlain could see his attention was on the depths, gaze tracing the trench wall. Amdirlain tested out Teleport to appear beside him and felt the Plane disrupt the Power.

"The Primordial energy is the problem. Teleport is trying to relocate us into a changing environment, so it strains the Power," said Amdirlain.

Silpar merely huffed thoughtfully and jabbed a talon ahead. "Fly faster."

"Yes, senpai," drawled Amdirlain.

I'll keep using Ki Flight to stretch it even if my other Flight Power is higher.

"I don't know that term, but I can hear the sarcasm in your tone," noted Silpar.

"My apologies. I couldn't resist, but I warned you I've got a dark sense of humour. I guess I should also include weird in there," replied Amdirlain as she tried to push her Ki Flight power to propel her faster. Despite Amdirlain flying at nearly seventy kilometres an hour, the wave's lip quickly pulled ahead. Silpar effortlessly kept pace with the wave, and when he glanced back to check her status, Amdirlain told him she'd catch up. Amdirlain teleported to join him when he got far ahead and felt the strain within the Power against the Plane's innate energy. Beneath the leading edge of the giant wave, she detected massive schools of fish plunging into the depths.

[Greater Teleport [M] (81->82)

Note: Are you trying to evolve that Power to help down there? Interesting choice.]

Amdirlain kept flying, and Silpar quickly regained his lead. World Step set her nearby. While it didn't place her as accurately as she'd hoped, it didn't receive the same backlash.

[Ki Flight [M] (6->7)

World Step [Ad] (7->9)

Note: Nice that you remembered it, but are you sure that's the one I was talking about?]

Gideon, stop being a tosser.

When they'd been flying for an hour without Silpar indicating progress, Amdirlain started silently creating demi-plane seeds. The multi-tasking slowed her further, but Amdirlain persisted. Being consistently left in his wake gave Amdirlain plenty of time to push hard with Flight and World Step. A full day of flying passed before Silpar halted, and as soon as the latest set of seeds was completed, she absorbed them and joined him.

[World Step [Ad] (38->39)]

"How are you feeling?" asked Silpar after he'd considered her for a moment.

Amdirlain smiled. "It's slowly improving my speed."

"You seemed to get slower initially," observed Silpar.

"I'm doing a few things in tandem," admitted Amdirlain, and she took the concealment away from the host of demi-plane seeds floating in the air around her. A set she'd started to create after the last World Step.

"What is the purpose of the crystals? Are you preparing weapons?"

Amdirlain shook her head and finished off the latest songs so she could absorb them into Inventory. "Seeds of demi-planes."

Silpar's nostrils twitched; otherwise, he might have been carved from stone. "How many of those things have you made since we started flying?"

"Seventy-four thousand seven hundred and twenty," replied Amdirlain, and she winked at Silpar. "The distraction added strain on Ki Flight, and the frequency of use helped World Step, so those feel easier."

"I've not heard of either of those powers, though from their names I can guess their effects," said Silpar. "Why use World Step instead of Greater Teleport?"

"There is less disruption from the Plane. I'm hoping I'll be able to use it beyond line-of-sight eventually. Time will tell. It's nowhere near advanced enough yet to risk that," replied Amdirlain.

"At this pace, we're going to be days flying to reach the next rift," advised Silpar.

Humming thoughtfully, Amdirlain took in Silpar's unbothered melody. "Do you have obligations I'm keeping you from?"

"No, but before we get deeper into the Abyss, I thought I should give some warning," replied Silpar. "The sisterhood might be dissolved, but we don't know if any might come along this route for personal reasons or to continue their old work."

"I've also been setting crystals into the submerged peaks to monitor for their approach," advised Amdirlain. "I need to evolve World Step and push Ki Flight into Senior Master, so I'm happy to keep flying. Making the crystals will give me enough experience to gain a few levels, though it will soon be far more demi-plane seeds than I need. Let me try something."

Amdirlain stabilised the Plane's local shifting energy and opened a Gate directly to the Chaos between Planes. The Plane about her bucked and hammered at the stable pocket of energy she'd created and, though blood flowed from her nose, the Gate remained open.

[True Song Genesis [S] (60->61)

True Song Architecture [S] (120->121)

Note: Fine, do it that way.]

"Want to leave?" asked Amdirlain.

Silpar slowly shook his head. Amdirlain dispatched a message to Gail to advise her about the count of demi-plane seeds she created and sent a memory crystal with their details to Livia. Then, she used the open Gate to eject all the seeds from Inventory into the currents between planes and sealed it closed. With the break in the Plane gone, the surrounding energies settled down and stopped hammering at the barrier she'd formed.

Wiping the blood from her nose, Amdirlain smiled. "That was fun. A nice challenge for my True Song."

"How did you do that?" breathed Silpar.

"Primordial energy is the potential for anything, and that flux causes the issues for gates and teleporting. I convinced the energy that it should exist in a temporarily stable state. With two stable planar points, I could open a Gate."

"The tides of Chaos are more stable than these planes?"

"Yes," laughed Amdirlain. "Here we're swimming in potential disaster. The closer we get to the realm's skin, the closer the natural state of Eldritch energies. It’s only the realm's rules translating it to Primordial energy and matter instead."

"I'd heard a few theories about that," admitted Silpar.

"Fragmented memories. When it comes to planar manipulation, True Song has more options, so wizards aren't going to be able to manage it," advised Amdirlain. "Shall we continue onwards?"

Silpar's tongue tasted the air briefly before he nodded. "It strained you, but at least it's a way out."

"It'll get harder to do the deeper we go, and the song will change. I'll test it on each Plane," said Amdirlain.

With Amdirlain's Ki Flight continually improving, the travel time wasn't as long as Silpar estimated. A peak that felt larger than Mount Everest slowly drew closer in the waters. The trench ran along the course of one spur and butted up against the mountain’s side. Coming to a step, Silpar pointed to the outer side of the spur whose path the trench had paralleled.

The rift lay between two spurs that jutted from the underwater mountain. They were yet another example of the scale of the Abyss extending off far enough that they disappeared from Resonance's twenty-kilometre reach without flattening out. The rift's event horizon followed the curve of the spurs for kilometres, going from barely a metre across to kilometres. Beyond the threshold, Amdirlain could see a sea of shifting sands without even an oasis in sight.

"I’ll assume you have a high resistance to fire," said Silpar. "This transition will hurt, and each will only get worse. We had a good trip to get here. Normally, I'd expect to fight a few creatures to reach this rift. Enter at the narrow point to save us from risking being in something's sight for too long."

"It's a bit of a swim down," noted Amdirlain.

"An eight kilometres descent to reach the peak and another eight to reach the area where the rift starts," agreed Silpar.

Amdirlain nodded and speared down through the water, fish larger than herself fleeing from her approach. Not trying to create crystals as she went, her speed jumped by nearly a third. As she descended, the cold grew, and the depths squeezed around her, both biting harder before she hit the rift's threshold.

She experienced a greater crushing pressure of primordial energy when she flew through the barrier. Reaching the other side, the damage had dramatically dropped her health. Though she'd entered at the narrow point, she was positioned atop a large dune, and blood ran from her eyes and nose. Behind her, a solid wall of black water formed a wedge that rose high into the sky. Amdirlain cleared up all traces of her blood loss before the sands could drink it.

[Resistance: Cold [GR] (2->4)

Resistance: Mundane Materials [GR] (12->13)

Resistance: Primordial [GR] (2->4)]

Silpar came through and appeared in the air and his gaze took in the expanse of dunes before he landed.

"No rippling sands or storms to be seen," observed Silpar.

"Am I still flying too slow to avoid trouble on this Plane?"

"Yes," replied Silpar. "There are living primordial dust storms on this Plane that can strip my unprotected flesh away, among other issues."

"Suggestions?"

"Try and open up a Gate here, and we'll go get you flying practice somewhere else," replied Silpar without hesitation.

Amdirlain took in the different themes around her and frowned. "I'll need time to learn this Plane's song to work out how to stabilise a pocket."

"Right by the rift isn't the place to do that," declared Silpar. "Return though the rift and head for the surface as soon as you feel restored."

Her health took longer to recover against the Plane's background pressure, but eventually, her health returned to full. When Amdirlain stepped through, the damage of the transition was only slightly reduced. Blood leaking from her mouth, nose and ears stained the water, and another notification showed.

[Resistance: Primordial [GR] (4->5)

Phoenix’s Rapture [G] (33->34)]

Heading straight for the surface, Amdirlain was soon joined by Silpar. Before she reached the halfway point to the surface, multiple schools of fish the size of megalodons came into Resonance's range, moving at a pace that far outstripped Amdirlain's ascent powered by Ki Flight. When she got a response from analysis on one's song, she could feel its primordial name being translated into something more pronounceable. The giant fish's blocky jawline and predatory nature influenced the translated name Gideon provided her.

[Dread Barracuda

Level: 117

Health: 22,581

Defence: 740

Magic: 237

Melee Attack Power: 727

Combat Skills: Bite [SM] (15) - Various innate powers

Immunities: Primordial, Cold, Mundane Materials.

Note: School Snappy wanted to say Hi.

Analysis [S] (36->37)]

It’s showing me immunities as well now. That’s a new feature in Analysis. The poor Skill needs more exercise.

Amdirlain let loose with severing notes, and multiple barracuda exploded. The blood and flesh diverted the schools of fish towards the closer meals. As they started to feed, a bigger fish engulfed one school, and it triggered a distant feeding frenzy that distracted more.

[Combat Summary

Dread Barracuda x25

Total Experience gained: 623,025

Ostimë: +311,512

Ontãlin: +311,512

Resistance: Cold [GR] (4->5)]

Frigid waters, is it the waves that prevent ice from forming?

When they finally hovered above the water's surface, Silpar took in the blood-tinged water beneath Amdirlain. "That will attract predators. I'm surprised nothing caught up to us."

"I distracted them so I wouldn't have to swat them all myself," noted Amdirlain. "Give me a few minutes, and I'll open up a Gate to somewhere safer."

"If we get your Ki Flight to Grand Master, we should be able to make that trip in a day or less," said Silpar.

"Which means it's over a week to get to the last location you know about," murmured Amdirlain.

Silpar gave a dry laugh. "Longer. The third Plane will take you a few days at that speed and the seventh at least a week."

"How did you lose them on the eighth Plane?" asked Amdirlain.

"It's a massive underground maze. They vanished at one point, and when I caught up to where they'd been, I couldn't trace where they'd gone," advised Silpar.

Once her health was fully recovered, Amdirlain opened a Gate and the pair stepped through into the Chaos tides between planes. Amdirlain cast the newest demi-plane seeds loose in a giant rush of crystalline seeds that appeared like a hailstone. They sped away, gaining energy and bouncing off each other in the swirling tides. As their separation grew, a few began to expand, and Amdirlain took Silpar with her to an already prepared Demi-Plane.

"What resistances do you believe I should grow?" asked Amdirlain.

"You've someone you trust to help?"

"Yes."

"All of them," declared Silpar. "Every single resistance you can acquire is worth growing,"

Amdirlain pulled out the memory crystal that Bahmut had provided and turned it over in her fingers. "Want to help some mortals against the Eldritch?"

"Another multi-year expedition?" enquired Silpar. "Shouldn't you be tending to your training so you can free yourself?"

"I'd like you to show me how the cloister would handle the matter," replied Amdirlain.

Silpar's nostrils flared in amusement. "We don't normally get involved with the Eldritch. The places where they're a threat tend to be more civilised. Primitive cultures don't tolerate members who display such insanities. The safety of the tribe comes first."

"Oh," replied Amdirlain. "That makes a grim kind of sense. So what worlds do the cloister normally get involved with?"

"Developing worlds, where pantheons aren't yet present," replied Silpar. "Occasionally, we'll get out onto civilised realms, but not frequently enough to spend time searching for Eldritch threats."

Amdirlain frowned. "The cloister never tried to gain mantles and get the worshippers to help them transform away?"

"Some have tried it in the past, but those so inclined to use mortals for their own ends instead of serving mortals in the hope of redemption became dark powers."

Clicking her tongue for a bit, Amdirlain finally nodded. "Likely because they were inclined to gain power for selfish reasons so that carried through into their endeavours."

"People will eventually see through deception," agreed Silpar. "One can only hope it doesn't occur too late for their souls. Why do you want to know how the cloister normally handles matters?"

"Information. I need to know how things are now, to assess change properly. I got the impression the path was made harsh partly through distaste," clarified Amdirlain.

Silpar's eye ridges lifted. "Is it not warranted? We were supposed to embody goodness in different forms and left destruction among mortals instead. Such distaste is more than deserved. From my perspective, the path hasn’t punished me nearly harshly enough for the progress it's attributed to me."

Amdirlain. "Rahka's anger aside, I had already intended to try to and improve the path's assessment."

"You already have improvements in mind?" asked Silpar, amusement rippling in his voice.

"It should at least consider good deeds between one's fall and starting the path," replied Amdirlain.

"Some might say those good deeds are how we earn access to finding the path," proposed Silpar. "They put the Fallen into a mindset to seek an improvement in their situation. Those most open to redemption are often pointed our way by those who don't fear associating with them. Luck seems to guide others to us before they’re ready."