The Heavenly Host

Damien and Vaselle stood watching the shamans analyze the mud golem. “So do you know much about golems?” Damien asked Vaselle.

“I’ve studied them. I think everyone who wants to create arcane devices does, but they always seemed like too much effort to me. It is a very complicated art, requiring numerous engineering skills, at least for stone or iron golems. I have no idea how you keep a mud golem together; it seems completely different than an articulated and animated statue,” Vaselle replied.

“I would have to agree. I’ve never actually seen one before,” Damien said. “Quite fascinating.”

“It appears to be made out of the mud in that chamber; they are of the same type,” Tal Gor said. The young shaman was standing back, letting the more experienced shamans have the best access.

“That would mean someone built it here,” Vaselle said. “That seems rather odd. We are not that far off the beaten path. You would think that someone would have noticed a wizard creating a golem down here for a few weeks.

“The golem has been here no more than a day,” Farsooth said, looking back towards them.

“So if it came here, then it was not made from the same mud,” Damien stated.

“No, it was created from this mud, but it was done within the last day,” Farsooth said. Beya and Ragala-nargoloth both nodded in agreement.

“I don’t see how that’s possible. That would be pushing the bounds of wizardry. Can shamans do something so quickly?” Damien asked.

Farsooth shrugged. “I have not met one who could, but it is conceivable with enough power.”

“No, I think this is djinn-based,” Beya said. “I can think of no one else with the skills to do this.”

“You are saying that it was created by a djinn?” Damien blinked. He had heard of djinn, but they were beings of legend. They had few interactions with the mortal realms. They were beings of the demi-elemental planes and according to legend, were highly constrained in their ability to enter the material planes.

“Or multiple djinns. I believe the spirit in this golem is a djinn. I cannot say that it is the same djinn or djinns that created this golem,” Beya said.

“So djinns can access the Abyss?” Damien asked.

“Why here and now?” Vaselle asked.

“The rain,” Völund said suddenly, startling everyone. He had come down with them, but as was his fashion, had remained completely silent.

“The rain.” Phaestus nodded. “That makes sense.”

“Not to me,” Damien said.

“How much do you know of how Mount Doom works?” Phaestus asked.

“I know it’s covered in runes and it combines the elements with spirit to generate mana,” Damien said.

“Close enough,” Phaestus said.

“Not really,” Völund said.

“Enough for the purposes of explaining this.” Phaestus shook his head.

“I take it the two of you are very familiar with Mount Doom’s operations?” Vaselle asked.

Völund shrugged. Phaestus rolled his eyebrows. “Yes, the two of us provided the core engineering skills and created many of the mechanisms in the complex.”

Vaselle’s eyes got bigger. “That was a long time ago, yes?”

Phaestus nodded and looked at Völund. “What year is this?”

“Fifty four seven sixty.” Völund said matter-of-factly.

Damien blinked. “You mean 54,760 years ago? That’s when this place was built?” He sounded rather incredulous.

“Foundation,” Völund stated tersely.

“What you see today took thousands and thousands of years to build, but Orcus laid the foundation stone 54,760 years ago,” Phaestus said.

“Wow,” Tal Gor breathed. Vaselle nodded in agreement.

“In any event,” Phaestus continued, “the interaction of the five planes creates what djinn call para-elements. In sufficient quantities these para-elements, or demi-elements, become malleable to the djinn. Once Mount Doom restarted, the para-elements began to pile up and malleables became available.”

Damien was nodding, putting things together. “Water and Earth become mud. Fire, Air and a bit of Earth are smoke; Water and Fire are steam; Water, Fire and Earth are soot, and so on.”

“A mud golem is a para-elemental golem of Water and Earth,” Beya added, voicing her agreement.

“Okay, that is the what and how, I guess. But that leaves the why,” Vaselle said.

“To re-establish relations with Mount Doom,” Phaestus said as if it were obvious.

“Re-establish?” Damien asked. Phaestus nodded, as did Völund. “Orcus had a long history of working with the djinn.”

“Really? Why?” Reggie asked.

“Many reasons mutually advantageous to each. The djinn have no other reliable way to access the Abyss, and Mount Doom contains numerous minerals of interest to the djinn. In return, the djinn have knowledge of other realms and can relay information to Mount Doom,” Phaestus said.

“So how do we talk to it?” Vaselle asked.

“Someone has to link with the spirit and let it talk through them,” Tal Gor answered. The three older shamans looked back and forth between themselves.

Finally, Beya spoke up. “I have done something similar once before.”

Ragala-nargoloth nodded her head in respect to Beya. “I have not. Ancestors, Kachinas and similar spirits, but nothing elemental.”