"Holy Kreggo, Vessie. It's a Speckormerelf!" Kayn exclaims. He can see the strange aberration through the gnarlid's eyes. The odd spirit was sentient, he was sure, but was it a creature of this Hedron under the control of the emcayi, or was it the one that was controlling them. They'd have to be cautious in how they handled this. The Speckormerelf might turn on them at any moment! A thought occurs as he crosses the rune that separates him from Vessie. Perhaps they can judge its true intentions by having it cross the runes as well. 

The ghost seems to attempt to move forward but stops before it can go anywhere. Grabbing one of the kor arms with an elf arm, the elves head comes alive from its dormant state. Lomilith shouts, "Come on you coward! I'm getting us out of here. I can practically smell you urinating." The ghost tugs the arm, allowing it to advance forward as it floats lazily through the air. Its right shoulder clips the wall, but it passes through it unphased. As the "speckormerelf" leaves the room, a wave of rotten air comes with it, basking everyone in the corridor with the smell of decayed flesh. Peering past the ghost, Rezivah can make out three skeletons laid across the room in various fashions, the flesh long having been stripped away.

Lomilith's head goes blank as his eyes close, and Endoro's head comes alive, awakening from its blank expression. "If they help us get out of here, then yes, I will exit," he states defiantly as if allowing Lomilith to bring him along." His head goes dormant and the elf's head comes alive again. In his accent, Lomilith says, "Spending any length of time in this gods-forsaken place causes one's memory to slowly rot away. No doubt you've heard, but the merfolk nation of Aaolumga is building an enclave of knowledge at Sea Gate called the Lighthouse. We are one of many groups hired by them to find the knowledge of the ancients and bring it to the Lighthouse so that history might be properly discovered and re-chronicled."

Using one of the elf arms, he gestures to his left, where Saraph'musa's head lies dormant and faced away from you. "Saraph'musa here was an emissary of the Lighthouse and our guide to this hedron." Her head snaps up once her name is said, as the head itself does a slow rotation of 180-degrees before coming into direct facing with the group. Her eyes are closed, yet a slight smirk remains on her lips. She says nothing.

Kayn's gnarlid sniffs in the direction of the speckormerelf, smelling the decay of the original occupant's corpses in the room. If these were hedron hunters that became trapped in the hedron, it had to have been centuries ago. How was it that this hedron was just newly discovered, then? It is possible... if the roil hid the hedron only to be brought back up now. Kayn's curiosity peaks and the gnarlid moves closer to the room. Without even entering it, he can smell the putrid decay coming off of the corpses.

How long were they really in there?  The thought is fleeting, as immediately Kayn is assaulted by the smell. The gnarlid begins to cough up, like a cat hacking up a furball, and its morning rations pour out of its mouth onto Vasha's feet. The gnarlid turns and flees from the smell, heading further away down the hall towards Kayn. 

Kayn's face scrunches up and he turns to Vesra as they make their way towards the speckormerelf. "I'm... going to wait here," he says. The gnarlid comes running towards them as he says this and sits in front of Kayn. Kayn checks its eyes, opens its mouth to take a look, then pats it on the head. "We'll be just a moment." 

Rezivah's infuriated demeanor was dramatically lowered once she saw the ghostly visage of... whatever it was. It was not of flesh or a living thing. An amalgamation of the spirits of three corpses laden in the small chamber before the vampire and Vasha. The gnarlid emptied its stomach's contents as the putrid odor of death and decay loomed out of the opening. Rezivah pressed her knuckles against her nostrils.

As it spoke, the vampire's face showed confusion. 'The Aaolumga is building an enclave of knowledge at Sea Gate called the Lighthouse?' The Lighthouse of Sea Gate is standing now and has long been completed, over a thousand years now, and the merfolk nation of Aaolumga is gone, wiped out from a massive Roil that sundered all of Zendikar nearly 1200 years ago. These, or rather this, ghost must have been in this hedron for all that time, yet has not felt or simply lost the passage of time.

"Tell me, creature. You know of these.. abominations, the things you call emcayi. Did you live among the great Eldrazi? What do you think is happening outside this hedron?"

Vesra began to hyperventilate a little at the sight of the monstrosity gliding toward them. Numbly, she took the potions from Vasha's hand and gave them a once over. "It's a healing potion, hang on to it," she said, handing the vial back to her sister. "You tend to need those more than I do."

Can you ask the... our new friend if there's something we can do to help them? Other than get them out of course, Vesra switched back to signing, the words catching in her throat. Also, can you ask the Mer if we are in the Eye? Or if she might know where it is.

Ato, satisfied that the other set of doors didn't open and nothing would be coming from that direction, rejoins the others in the hallway outside the cell. As the stench of decay assaults his sense, he keeps his distance, trying to breath through his mouth, but even then it's as if he can taste the foul air. He watches as Vasha goes in and roots around the corpses, coming back out with her small collection of treasures. "Gods! Close the door again so we don't have to smell that any more!," he calls out.

Catching the phantom's words, he is puzzled - the look on his face likely mirroring that on Rezivah's.  A merfolk nation called Aaolumga? Building the Lighthouse at Sea Gate? He'd never heard of this Aaolumga, and the building of the Lighthouse dated back further than anyone could even remember at this point, so far as he knew. Maybe the Chronarchs themselves knew better.

"Saraph'musa" The odd name, so different from the Mer names of this time, still flows off Ato's tongue in the proper accent of his people. "The... elf said you had led them here from the Lighthouse. Were you a member of the Chronarchs then? They still exist, and the Lighthouse still stands, though I'd wager that Sea Gate is far from what you remember it being. Perhaps you can return somehow and they can help you."

Kayn accepts the wand from Vasha and gives it a quick look. It was carved out of some sort of diamond material and etched with runes similar to other hedrons he had seen. He couldn't quite tell what properties it might have, but it was an impressive artifact nonetheless. He pats his gnarlid on the head one more time before it slumps to the ground, its breath slow and methodical. The sense of nausea coming from the gnarlid was too much for the goblin to handle. It was better he let the feeling fade before taking control again. 

"This is a very interesting find, Vashie," Kayn says as he inspects it. "Where did you find it?" 

The elf cocked his head towards Rezivah. "Emcayi? You mean eldrazi, right? Endoro's head wasted away long ago... probably before we even swam our way into here. And what do you mean, live with them? The eldrazi haven't been seen for thousands of years. Not since the Great Prophetess destroyed them with her lithomancy. I suppose we've lived with them for the past few days, though we've been trapped in that room since..."

"He...." Lomilith began to call out at Vasha as she waltzed past him into the room. before he was cut off, his head going dormant. Endoro came alive, his head twisted to the side and facing the ceiling as he peered down at Rezivah. "Yes yes yes! We live with the emcayi. We're dangerous! Scary, spoopy folk!" The ghost turns to face Vasha, curious at what she's doing. Endoro lets out a gasp and decrees, "Those skeletons were not there when we came in. How did they get in? Why are they there? Who are they? What are they?" He continues to repeat his questions over and over again, the ghost's body slowly rocking back and forth as he does.

Endoro goes dormant long after Vasha has left the place and distributed the ghost's items to the group. Saraph'musa's head begins to bob, signifying that she's awake now. Turning her head around a full 180-degrees, she utters, "Help? No help can be found. The world will be covered in sackcloth and white ash, as the Daughters of the Mountain shall prostrate themselves on the white dust in unholy offering to the Mountain God. One can only see the Eye when they have torn asunder the bowels of their dust, spraying the earth around them with their tainted blood and desecrate flesh." Her head quickly goes limp as Lomilith's head springs to life in fury.

"STOP CUTTING ME OFF!!" he shouts, turning to face the -now- empty room where Vasha had long departed. The ghost freezes with its back turned, as all three heads face the empty room motionless.

....

The act continues for nearly a minute. Ato, a little nervous at the sudden stillness, trying to break the act by speaking with the mer. "Saraph'musa, the... elf said you had led them here from the Lighthouse. Were you a member of the Chronarchs then? They still exist, and the Lighthouse still stands, though I'd wager that Sea Gate is far from what you remember it being. Perhaps you can return somehow and they can help you."

Like breaking a spell, Ato's question brings the ghost back to attention. Tears stream down the faces of Lomilith and Saraph'musa, while Endoro's only shows a smile. Lomilith can only utter, "We're...... dead." His face goes blank as Endoro exclaims, "That's what I've been trying to tell you, sleepy head. Our reality isn't their reality! Dummy."

The ghost hunches down, moving into a fetal position while still floating in the air. Saraph'musa claims, "All is not lost. The Three are not immortal." One of the kor arms reaches out at an inhuman angle and pats Lomilith's head. Endoro says, "Dummy sleepy head. You'll come to understand how great it is to be with the incredible... Me! Forever. And ever. And evereverever."

Lomilith can only respond, "This is what Hell is, isn't it? Surely there's no fate worse than this."

Vesra backed away from the ghost slowly as it went off, returning to its cell. She inspected the bones, although it was difficult to discern how they died as they were easily a thousand years old. The druid walked back, just in time to here the ghost mention something about immortality to Ato.

”W-wait, what was th-that you said about the Three not b-being immortal?” She asked hesitantly, working up the small modicum of courage to ask herself since Vasha wasn’t by her side. 

Kayn lets his conscious flow back into his gnarlid. He feels the creature's stomach has settled so he takes control once again. With a sigh of relief, he leaves the gnarlid in the maze room to keep watch and heads over towards the speckormerelf. 

He's missed a lot of the recent dialog, but he sees the expressions on the faces of the ghost. "I am sorry," he says. "I can't imagine what it must have been like to be trapped down here." He avoids the cell. He can still smell the rot and to get too close will test his fortitude. He looks down at the wand in his hand. It must have come from the cell. "These hedrons of yours. They are amazing to behold. Is there something you wish us to do with them? We can leave them with your remains, transport them elsewhere, or use them to fight the Emcayi to cleanse this hedron."  

Vesra's question on the Three is meant with silence from the three figures.

Kayn's remarks are met with a response from Lomilith, who's sobered up a little since his realization. "Death is just a part of the natural cycle. As spirits, we have no use for artificial trinkets and tokens, and it would serve no purpose to leave them with our remains. I believe I speak for everyone when I ask that our remains be buried in fresh soil, and not left to rot." He looks over his twisted form with horror, adding, "Perhaps that might cure our ailment we suffer from now."

Endoro quickly speaks up, "That won't work, but the thought is still nice!"

"It will be done," Kayn says with finality. 

He glances down at the wand once again. "What does this do?" Kayn asks. "Our knowledge of hedrons have faded quite a lot. I do not recognize this design."  He calls the driftglobe closer to get a better look at how the light dances across the wand's diamond-shaped surface. "It is exquisite." 

Looking over to Vesra as she examines the corpses, Kayn asks, "Can you wrap them in our bedrolls? I'd like to keep them in the entry for when we exit. They deserve a proper burial, I think." 

Kayn summons Sear, giving him specific instructions and sending him off towards the hedron entrance. "We have a door at the end of the hallway there," he says. "Any ideas how we open it?" He asks everyone this question, open for ideas.

Lomilith turns his head to face the back of Saraph'musa's. "Something tells me she's not going to give you a straight answer... And Endoro will detail an intricate story behind the wand's origins. In short, it was a wand forged by the Prophetess and her acolytes and given to a group of mana-adepts known as the War Mages. Your spells will fly truer, and sometimes even twist around defenses to strike at them."

"I don't recall finding a way through that door, so I'm not sure what's behind it either."

"You could probably pop your head in and look," Kayn responds. He stows the wand for now and gestures for the speckormerelf to follow. "We're not sure how to open it, but I imagine in your incorporeal form you'll have no problem seeing what's on the other side. If you're willing to help us, that is."  He leads the ghost to the closed door in the hallway and smiles. "It's up to you three, of course."

Rezivah simply looks at the three corpses and scoffs with a look of disgust. As if she'd soil her hands with their rotten bones, or her bedroll for that matter. As Kayn walks off with the undead thing, Rezivah plainly states. "I'm not touching those things."

Aside from insulting her, the hideous thing had been severely confused. The eldrazi weren't these aberrations. The eldrazi created this vault. They sealed these monsters in. And we almost let them out.

Right, Vesra was a child now. People didn't listen to children, or speak to them. People patronized children when they spoke and told them half-truths to protect them. 

Being a kid sucked.

Tired of being all but ignored, Vesra sat down in a corner and played with Ember. Have you noticed anything different about me?... Nothing at all?... You have got to be joking with me, there is no way in Zendikar that you actually think I feel more powerful... Ember, I'm like a foot shorter... Ok, that is fair. I suppose I am still much bigger than you... Fine, I'll tell you what you're missing. Somehow, this place messed with my mana and caused me to get younger... Yes, I guess I am still me... Thank you... Most everyone is looking at me differently it feels like, I feel different, so it's nice that someone still- No, Ember, that is not the solution to all of our problems.