[IC] Temple of Dorgan

[Throndir]

Standing at still about 60 ft. away from the earth elemental, you spoke to it in dwarven, and immediately the creature began to react. It proceeded to face you, and you could have sworn its eyes glowed for a brief moment. In a grumbling and low tone of voice, akin to the sounds of a low tremor of or rocks crushing against each other, it spoke in an almost broken and segmented dwarven.

"Arkul grunnjagen. Khannen. Khuzad nai neah. Hrun kurn. Remag de rast rem, vass leib nurv." (Guardian initiated. Scanning. Dwarven race not found. Enemy detected. Speak the password, state your intentions.)

[Linwelin]

"Whoa." Kin stated bluntly to himself. He'd honestly not expected that to work. "A password, is it? What in the name of all the gods would these dwarves use as a password." Kin slowly muttered to himself. "Come on, Kin, think!"

Kin tries to come up with a likely password.

Wisdom:  1d20+2 : 8 + 2, total 10

Intelligence:  1d20+1 : 14 + 1, total 15

[Throndir]

You could not think of any sort of password that the element might accept. It proceeded to continue staring 60 ft. away from you.

[Linwelin]

Kin sighs, "Nope, nothing." The halfling says to himself, readying his sword. "All I can do is fight, after all." With that, he rushes forward, keeping his defenses up due to the distance he needed to cover this time.

Kin moves forward 20 ft and takes a defensive stance.

[Linwelin]

Initiative:  1d20+5 : 17 + 5, total 22

[Throndir]

As you began to close the gap, the elemental flared to life.

Kin to state actions.

[Linwelin]

Seeing the creature start preparing for combat, Kin remained cautious. After all, he wasn't in the best of shape. He held his position, ready to charge in once the elemental got any closer. "Come ooon~! A little closer!" The halfling watched anxiously, waiting for his moment to run in and strike.

Kin moves forward 5 more feet and holds his defensive stance. So Kin is currently 35 feet away.

[Throndir]

The elemental on the other hand began charging towards you. It seemed to almost glide on top of the rock platform it stood upon. It didn't seem to make any visible marks on the ground as well. By all observation, it seemed to seamlessly mesh with the platform leaving no trace of  disturbances, holes, or uncovered dirt in its path.

It lunged forward, and though you pulled out all tricks you knew to avoid the attack, it managed to land a hit.

Kin takes 5 lethal damage.

Damage Taken
Kin (lethal): 9
Kin (nonlethal): 11

[Linwelin]

"Wha-!?" Kin tried to dodge out of the way, but the giant rock fist club straight into his shoulder. "How does a big lug like you move that fast!? Or is this whole platform your body? Fatty." Kin did not expect the giant rock to move faster than a human.

"Well, let's see who hits harder, eh?" Kin grits his teeth as he swings his sword horizontally, dropping his defense and attempting to cut through the boulder-like creature.

Sword smack!

Attack:  1d20+6 : 8 + 6, total 14

Damage:  2d6+5 : 1, 6 + 5, total 12

[Linwelin]

Karma to add 1d6 to attack roll

Rolled 1d6 : 4, total 4

[Throndir]

1 Karma usage resolved. Points spent: 130 -> 131.

You struck down the elemental. Cleaving it in two, it fell down in a heap of rubble. The gemstone eyes ceased to glow, and its two gauntlet-like hands clashed on the ground. The hands seemed to curl into a strangely shaped fist as the creature lost consciousness.

Second Island and Surroundings
With the creature no longer functioning. You manage to look around the area. Around 95 ft. away forward is the start of another bridge. Like the first one you had crossed, this too was made of separate stone slabs that seemed to float midair, precariously over the lava below. Two long brass chains spanned from the second island down to the third one as well, acting as handrails, though like the first bridge, they were not connected to the floating stone slabs.

In the distance
The waves of heat made looking further into the distance more of a blurry haze, you can almost make out an earthy mound on the third platform as well. Presumably these earth elementals served as guards for the temple-like building further on.

[Linwelin]

Kin exhales in relief, and walks toward the newly-formed piles of rubble. He looks down for a moment, scouting the pile of rock before plopping down and digging through his pack. After a moment, the halfling retrieves a healing potion from his belongings. "This should do the trick!" He says eagerly as he quaffs the red mixture, revitalizing himself after the long journey.

Potion of Cure Light Wounds used.

Now feeling more stable, Kin began digging through the rubble, searching for anything useful among the remnants of the guardian. "Maybe these things actually have some kind of key to control these bridges?"

Healing:  1d8+1 : 5 + 1, total 6

Search check:  1d20+1 : 1 + 1, total 2

[Throndir]

You opened the stopper for the vial, and in one fluid motion you drank the liquid. The liquid was cool to the touch, and you felt yourself revitalizing as you imbibed the potion. The aches from the blunt force you received earlier from the elemental started to become more dull, even the heat seemed to be more bearable.

Kin heals 6 lethal damage and 6 non-lethal damage. Inventory on old sheet updated. Also -1 Potion on your current sheet.

Damage Taken
Kin (lethal): 3
Kin (nonlethal): 5

You started digging around the elemental's body. But in the end of it, the only things that was different than the rest were its two gem-like eyes, that you managed to set aside, and its two fists. The rest of the body, in your eyes, was unremarkable. It looked like just a pile of rubble.

The body
Specifically, many of the larger pieces of the elemental was made out of basalt. The darker hues in it were some slices of obsidian mixed in. Among the large pieces, there were chunks of other volcanic materials as well. The smaller stones seemed to clump up to the elemental when it was still functional, but now, having lost whatever force kept it together, was scattered and mixed in with the larger piles.

The eyes
The two gem eyes were no longer glowing, as in closer inspection, wasn't very finely carved, it looked as if these gems were rough and raw. They were orange in color, with both pieces to be roughly the same size.

The fists
The two fists you had put aside were strangely-shaped. Upon its death, the fists curled tight as if clenching something. But it was the shape of it overall which wasn't something you expected. When clenched, the fists looked like a cylinder, and at the end of it, where you expected the knuckles to be looked to be random protrusions.

[Linwelin]

Kin was unimpressed by what he found as he rolled the gemstone eyes in the palm of his hand. He decided to wander over to the edge toward the next platform, examining the edge for any signs of runes or the like. After all, he wouldn't be surprised if there were more command words to progress further.

The halfling then took out the mysterious hammer he'd gone through this ordeal for. He'd noted that the magical glow seemed to be returning, and wondered if that perhaps meant he could use some of its abilities once that energy was restored. The dwarves from before seemed plenty interested in it as well, so it MUST be important. "What in the nine hells is this thing, anyways?"

Finally, he looks back at the rubble pile. Specifically the fists. "There has to be something there, something just doesn't feel right." Kin makes his way back to the earthen corpse to to dig through the rubble, and maybe even open the odd fists.

Search:  1d20+1 : 7 + 1, total 8

[Throndir]

As you made your way to the edge, keeping an eye on the surroundings, you weren't able to get much. It was the same sight as you had seen prior. You did take a careful look of any runes or anything else out of the ordinary at the edge, and just like the last platform, you were able to see some sort of indentation in the ground, right before the next set of bridges.

Indentation
Like the previous one, this set of indentations stopped or started near where the brass chains connected to the ground. There seemed to be random instrusions that made up the feature, along with various bumps along the surface. Yet, even though it seemed random, overall, it looked cohesive and purposeful. The indentation was about 1 inch deep, and around half a foot in terms of diameter.

The Hammer
As you pulled out the weapon, grasping the iron that made up the shaft of the weapon, once again, you felt the cool sensation cover your entire body. You can still feel the ambiental heat from the location, but for whatever reason, holding the hammer made the heat feel much more bearable. In fact, you could even say comfortable. The large gemstone at the center of the weapon seemed to glow stronger than before, though, not at its original brilliance from before back in the underground temple. The gem continued to pulsate, and it seemed to pulsate slightly faster than when you had first seen it do so earlier that day.

The Rubble
Making your way back to the corpse of the earth elemental, you began rummaging through it as you gathered the two fists of the elemental. They were still in the weird cylindrical shape, with its knuckle-like protrusions reaching forward. As you imagined the piece of rock, for that's what it really was, you realize that unclenching the fist would no longer be possible. At least, not in a natural way as one would simply unclench the fists of a dead corpse. The earth elemental's body, though fluid and seemed to glide while it was alive, had become stiff and rock-like.