Chapter 3: The Song-Wind City

Takulu gives you directions to Lesedi's office, but she isn't there when you arrive. Asking around reveals she is currently mentoring one of her students in a nearby building. When you arrive at the indicated building, you can see a large chamber, the center of which has been cleared away to make room for a circle of arcane runes inscribed on the floor. The runes are glowing with red-orange light, illuminating the otherwise dimly-lit chamber.

Teacher Lesedi stands outside the circle, alongside her student. Lesedi herself resembles the Ekujae of the jungle, but her skin tone is a lighter brown, with patches of even paler skin across her face and bae arms. He long hair is white, and her orange eyes glow with flecks of red. She is diminutive, barely standing five feet tall, the dainty pink robes she wears are incongruous with the necklace of wicked-looking bones around her neck.

Her student is a young human woman wearing colorful clothes and a soft red hat atop her braids. Her face is locked in concentration as her fingers move in arcane patterns. Within the glowing circle, a rift hangs in the air, through which a fiery landscape of obsidian landmasses within a lake of bubbling lava can be seen.

"Good work, Meitama," Lesedi says. "Keep your focus. Concentrate... concentrate...!"

The hair on the back of AJ's neck stands up. She gets the feeling something bad is about to happen. The pale woman catches on fire as she calls out a warning a mere moment before Meitama's nose twitches and her eyes start to water. "N-no, I... I can't hold it... ah, ACHOO!" She lets forth a mighty sneeze, and the rift suddenly roars with a burst of flame.

"Meitama!" Lesedi shouts, raising her hand which is already beginning to glow with golden light. But it's too late, as the rift in reality belches forth more fire and four creatures fly out! The creatures resemble two-foot-tall fiery bats with big bulging eyes and toothy grins. They cackle and cavort before orienting on AJ and her flames!

Lesedi whirls, taking you in for the first time. "Hi, there! Could you lend a hand? Take care of these scamps while we seal the rift!" She turns back to the fiery tear in reality as the scamps swoop towards you!

Novac quickly draws and hurls two daggers at one of the creatures, one of his knives finding its mark. Al zaps two of them with electricity, though they avoid the worst of the magical attack.

The injured creatures chitter and swoop in to attack Novac and Al in retaliation. The other two circle around to the sides of your group before breathing forth blasts of flames! The fire washes over the pair engaged in melee, healing some of their injuries.

Three of the four creatures resists AJ’s sonic blast, but the fourth one catches the full brunt of it, spiraling out of the air and crashing hard into the floor, where it lies still. Dalton channels his ki and strikes out in a flurry of blows. His first strike takes down the wounded scamp that was attacking Novac, so he quickly whirls to deliver another punishing blow to Al’s assailant, dropping it as well. With only one foe left, Novac moves up and quickly stabs it twice, causing it to go down. Al’s healing magic washes over the group.

With the enemies vanquished, it only takes Lesedi and Meitama a few more seconds to fully close the fiery gate. Lesedi sighs with relief. "A sneeze this time, Meitama?" she asks with a quirked eyebrow.

Meitama throws up her hands. "It’s not my fault, Teacher! Things like this just keep happening. I swear, I’m a chaos magnet."

Lesedi shakes her head and turns back to you. "Thanks for your help. You all okay?"

"Do you often spontaneously combust, or is this a new thing?" Lesedi asks curiously, regarding AJ with her head cocked.

Meitama blows a raspberry. "Oh, I've been there before," she remarks acerbically.

Lesedi gives her a look. Meitama gives a hasty bow and mumbles something about homework before scurrying off. The petite elf turns back to Novac and listens attentively to his summary of the situation.

"How fascinating! Well, you definitely came to the right person here. So, you're trying to get back to your home world, yes? The first step, I think, would be to closely examine your auras to see if I can trace the position of that world in our Universe. It sounds like at the very least it is in a star system far removed from our own, but I've no doubt it exists somewhere out there in the vast and silent void!" Lesedi says with a grin. "Do you consent to an aura exam?"