Battle of the Bubbling Depths

The caverns dimmed with foreboding silence, as the two elementals crept forward into the chamber where we held our breaths silently. Neeon muttered an incantation and the light from the room, glowing with bioluminescence, seemed to dim notably from a source of power that enveloped the entire area.
 
The air elemental peered its head slowly into the room, while I and Magnus prepared to strike. It slowly scanned the room, its would-be eyes passing over us individually but not noticing. Magnus, who had been hiding by the frame of the entryway, poised to attack had been waiting til the last moment. At the same time, I struck the creature with a weakening curse, slowing the air elemental’s reactions and attacks. Magnus stood toe to toe with the monstrous form of air and wind, trading blows as the two Sahuagin masters came up from behind them through the doorway.
 
The water elemental struck our party and we traded attacks of various devastation and guile while doing our best to stand our ground against the contrived elements in the cavern. The elemental handlers were commanding their enthralled creatures, when suddenly one of us struck a blow against the mote that floated inside them, shattering it and relinquishing its control of the huge force of nature. It seemed to come to, murmuring a brief word that was foreign to me but Jakuul seemed to understand, shouting something back at him in a similar tongue. It seemed to nod, and we avoided attacking him for the rest of our engagement.
 
Quickly we made an end of the fishfolk opposing us, thankfully suffering no major casualties. Whether luck or advantage, the second elemental was relieved of his control and we came to a truce rather than suffering their continued barrage or wrath.
 
Once we had established a peace between us, we began to converse with the creatures made of air and water. They regained their composure and awareness, and we began to learn about their origins and how they came into this form under their watery master’s control.
 
While they were speaking to us, it occurred to me that the way they had been subjugated was not unfamiliar, a very similar method as the arcane magic involved that we had seen before. To me, it represented an idea I had heard called Nometathra -- a place of labor or limbo to redeem sins in Cyrorion, when souls leave a body sometimes they are trapped in this place to atone for their sins, according to some religious beliefs. Similar to how we had seen Mirabelle ripped from her corporeal form, when Ikeltek had savaged her in front of our eyes.
 
As we made a makeshift camp in the cavern that had once been our battlefield, the two creatures made themselves familiar and friendly. Kolani the water elemental and Mataiya the air elemental introduced themselves, and when Amias explained that Vha'Shjeek had slumbered for a long time, and while not known for hungering for flesh, that it could be quite possible that the mutterings of the prisoners had been connected to the plot we had been following that led us to this watery fortress.
 
A glimmering portal silently taunted us from across the next room. Now unguarded, it beckoned our curiosity and what may lay beyond. We spent the night in the halls resting for our next leg of our journey, and decided that whatever answers we needed would be found on the other side of its distortions in space and time.
 
As the party collected ourselves, we braved the chamber adjacent to us, and one by one stepped through the portal floating on the opposite side of the room. We emerged into a large open space illuminated by a massive reef from various glittering sources. Plankton and other small translucent sea life floating in an otherwise crystal clear volume of water, complimented by equally translucent formations of crystals protruding from the reef itself. Crabs, eels, and jellyfish, anemones dotted the reef, among other sources of life and movement with vibrant colors and shimmering life despite the inescapable sense of foreboding danger.
 
A giant throne presented itself, surrounded by many guards clad in armors floating nearby in a flanked formation from the throne, although they had not seen us enter from our silent discretion. Thankfully, we slowly approached unnoticed only to notice a second set of guards in a closer formation to the throne. As we came nearer, we noticed a large figure atop the throne, and upon recognizing him, Amias exclaimed, ‘That’s the one, he killed my father!’ -- and also identifying Ojit specifically by name, while Kico muttered something about his trident being ‘pretty’ and ‘worth taking’ for her ‘collection’. Acorzhi by his side as promised and described, we knew this was the right place to find relief for our friends and vengeance for Amias’ father. The priestess held a self-assured grin, glancing out across their throne room area, and occasionally antagonizing an indiscernible figure that was seemingly chained and attached to the throne.
 
We also spotted a series of crystals set on small columns above the throne pathway, that seemed to resemble the same mechanisms of control for the elementals and perhaps more, and we focused our attention on this as the new objective to be destroyed to free the rest of the elementals enthralled in their will.
 
Suddenly, two massive tentacles emerged in the far distance, almost daring attackers to get closer. Whether alerted or having been there the whole time, Neeon took a shot at the crystal from the base of the steps leading to the throne. Magnus followed up by rushing the steps and striking with his mighty strength, shattering the crystal instantly. The crystal burst with light, and a wisp of a small energy resembling a trapped soul of familiar foul entrapment escaped the construct. The tentacles retreated, suddenly seemingly freed from control and scattering off into the far-off murk of the sea.
 
A brief moment of relief, and a knowing nod from us to each other, until we suddenly realized the tentacles reappeared closer to the throne itself. The rest of the throne guards alerted, we began both battling them and scrambling to destroy the crystals that seemingly powered their interests if not fueled their ability to control the minds of creatures and prisoners alike.
 
Missiles of various types, blasts, and swings exchanged, the lesser guards as pawns before us fell quickly, until Ojit stepped forward and surveyed us as his foes. With a quick grasp, and a blur of motion, he snatched one of the crystals nearby and raced towards Kolani, plunged the object into its chest. The creature surged and shuddered, slumping over and reverted into its previous state as a controlled being. Kolani then lurched towards their compatriot Mataiya and delivered a devastating series of blows to his fellow elemental. The remaining guards regrouped and fell back along the steps, while Ojit flanked them to form a line and press us to deny us from coming further or destroy more crystals. It was clear this was a contested and coveted source of their power, and we were making progress but still had much to go to secure victory.
 
Neeon shot the crystal controlling Kolani once more, and after shattering the crystal, Kolani regained their lucidity and gave a thankful glance as their attention focused again on the Sahuagin guards to help our party once more.
 
The tentacles again receded from an unknown source, and reappeared even closer to the restrained figure in chains near the throne while the guard’s formation compacted even tighter in defense. Magnus and Amias breaking their line, but surrounded, Kico supporting them, the guards continued to clash, blood and fish flesh polluting the waters creating a murk in the once crystalline water.
 
Ojit again advanced forward in a dreadful manner, and upon coming closer, the rest of us gazed at a crystal attached to his belt, with a soul -- a face on it resembling Amias’ father. He glared at the crystal shard face, and back at Amias. ‘This one looks like you’ he grumbled as he struck Amias down in a combo of terrifying strikes, her form slumping and floating in the water where she swam. He then moved back to reinforce his troops along the steps to the throne.
 
The rest of our eyes widened and began to redouble our efforts to defend her body and helped her stand back up. Thankfully she had only been knocked unconscious, and after a few moments Kico was able to break away to stabilize her. Neeon bolted ahead to the prisoner’s chains, and began to help her free. The rest of us maintained the offense and whittled down the guards down to their constituent elements, reducing them to forms of blood and flesh.
 
Acorzhi and Ojit remained. We stepped closer, while Kolani began to flank the fishfolk priest prepared to strike. With a simple gesture Acorzhi withdrew a dagger and waved it with a spellcast towards the watery construct, and with a sudden pop in space and time, the water elemental disappeared from known existence.
 
I became so furious with the banishment of our friends, and the smiting of innocent prisoners, I pointed a single finger at Ojit, and summoned my focus to blast him from the base of the stairs, sending an eldritch bolt sailing over the heads of our group into the chest of the dark watery prince, followed by a second more devastating bolt into the opposite side of his center mass. He crumpled and stumbled over the side of the staircase and held on by a semi-conscious grip on the side.
 
Neeon continued to work on freeing the chains from their prisoner, while the rest of us helped Amias to her feet.
Magnus stepped towards Acorzhi, striking with a righteous accuracy. She paused and took a step backwards, and suddenly Kolani reappeared into existence, apparently freed from the high priestess’ banishing spell. Meanwhile, Neeon managed to free the figure from capture, and with a rush of bubbling air and current, the form changed from a normal sized humanoid to a massively tall, 25 foot entity. The surrounding sea life began to rally to her side and our aide. Sharks, eels, manta ray and other large creatures began to surround and protect both her and intimidate Ojit and Acorzhi, while the rest of them converged onto them to defeat them to their forfeit.
 
Amias rose to her feet as she approached a gasping and struggling Ojit. Her hands shaking and head pounding.
 
'Ojit, my name is Amias Montoya, you have killed my father, prepare to die!'
 
She raised her rapier, and slashed his throat silencing him forever. A secondary followup blow, skewering his head lifting it up as his form became a mist of blood and gore in triumph. The crystal containing her father’s soul clinked slowly, sinking onto the throne steps. The rest of his body fell off the staircase, slipping into the murkey depths below.
 
Nearly immediately after, Randuras shot a thundering shot into Acorzhi’s chest, who continued to battle Magnus in retaliation. If Ojit had fallen, she would soon follow, and we would guarantee she continued to follow by his side even in death. I shot another volley of blasts into her, and in defiance she lifted her hand and cut it, sending all the crystals into a painful and shuddering agony, all of them whipping past us making lacerations as they flew by.
 
Neeon turned around, outside the swarm of crystalline projectiles, shooting her with a decisive arrow through the back of her skull. The sealife summoned by the prisoner now devouring the corpses ravenously, we collected ourselves after a long battle, huge cost and casualty.
 
Kolani and Mataiya standing at either side of the watery figure, the reef area became saturated with even more light and color than before. Retiring to the throne in a regal form, she addressed the two elementals. A stream of fog and air from the chasm below had now dissipated and became inert, as if a great disturbance had been relieved and the waters restored to peace.
 
The prisoners freed, Amias’ father avenged, and the elementals released from their torturous control. The elementals parted ways and floated into the water, dissolving into water and bubbling air around them, at peace finally once more. The large amalgamation of sea, plants, shells, and reef animated towered above us introduced themselves as Hua'leka'etelae, the ruler of this watery kingdom.
 
We asked them if they knew why the Sahuagin had been usurping her kingdom, to find out they were serving a greedy creature in their quest for apparent world dominance. As subtle and modest as these goals were, she confirmed they had indeed been looking for shards of some kind of power, at the service of a devilish demigod called Qolijo -- a name we had definitely heard before. While she had never heard of Ikeltek, she had heard of one other name working for Qolijo before -- a pair of brothers moving from place to place working in the league ‘in the land above’. A ‘Johan and Eikelen’ had a pact made by their grandmother, and while she had given us a check of reality, having revealed we had been duped by Von Cuthbert’s lies.
 
Amias studied the crystal, pondering the effects of simply smashing it in hopes of releasing his soul. In patient care, she decided to take it back with her to further decide later for proper final resting place. Hua provided a giant turtle as travel, and motioned for her to ride on her back. She thanked us and bid a farewell, and we returned her gratitude with humble welcomes, and the turtle floated away towards Clairemont Bay to find her father’s spirit a much deserved rest and respite from its torture.
 
We had grown stronger. Wiser. We had defeated a major torment to both the sea and land, and hopefully seen the last of and relieved the countryside that had been rampaged by magical elementals against their will. We had unfortunately also been duped by someone we had helped, a nefarious vile figure that now had possession of a child we had rescued.
 
We would need to have words and fight to find the truth, and our part to play in this plot seems to have just thickened. The Von Cuthberts owe us answers, and we will set out for them as soon as we reach land. It will be an interesting conversation, if not a perilous battle, and we would be prepared for it either way.