As much as Kairen hated being trapped, it was strangely freeing in some aspects. Instead of worrying about making his way out of the Shifting Sands, or trying to make contact with a wandering caravan, he could just relax. A source of water was something that Pathfinders could track down, and as such there was little Kairen could do except wait. He had no obligation to spend his time trying to make contact, he had already done everything he could and had the freedom to just sit back and watch the antics of the various animals.
The day passed by quickly, and soon the various animals had settled down for the night. Some had claimed areas around the oasis as their own, either burrowing underground or circling up with herd members to guard each other, but most had set off once they had drunk their fill. Various crepuscular species had begun to arrive, to spend their active time period at the oasis, and Kairen knew that once the nocturnal animals woke up it wouldn’t be long before they too started to make their way to drink their fill. The continued activity discouraged most of the animals from sleeping in the area, and they reluctantly left to settle down somewhere else for the night. Kairen stayed up a little bit after dark to see if he could watch the new arrivals, but between the darkness and the sheer number of things moving it was hard to make out anything but vague outlines. He figured his eyes would adjust if he stayed awake long enough, much like they had the previous night, but he was tired and the lure of a comfortable resting spot on the water called to him.
When he woke up in the morning, Kairen was once more greeted by the three screens. All three were displaying pictures from the start, and the only difference that he could spot was that the middle image had changed from a new oasis forming to his current one expanding. It had also taken on a greyed out hue compared to the other two images, and attempting to choose it had no effect. Upon closer inspection it looked like there might be smaller windows above and behind the water choice, but they were so transparent as to be little more than a haze, and Kairen wasn’t sure they weren’t just his mind making things up. Giving it up for the moment, Kairen turned his attention to the remaining two options, and ended up choosing the one that increased the number of animals. He still didn’t have any reason to worry about being attacked by monsters, and having more creatures present seemed like a good way to make things more interesting. The window vanished, but there didn’t seem to be any obvious change. The window had been pretty clear about what it would affect though, and Kairen eventually shrugged and mentally marked it down as a longer term effect.
Once again the oasis proved to be a major point of attraction for the local wildlife, and Kairen spent the morning wandering from one species to the next, looking for all the unusual features that let each one survive in this harsh climate. When he checked on the knightmoss he noticed that the troop was missing, the only thing left was the disturbed dirt speckled with blood that suggested a scuffle of some sort. A quick check reassured Kairen that the moss hadn’t managed to gain a foothold in his pool and he gave a little nod of thanks to whatever predator had removed the threat. Around lunchtime Kairen started getting the mental impression that he should eat, even though he wasn’t feeling physically hungry and hadn’t been able to interact with any material objects yet. He categorized it as him still adjusting to his new incorporeal form and tried to ignore it, but after an hour of feeling the nagging sensation, he decided to try something stupid. There wasn’t anything in the area that Kairen really wanted to eat, preferring his meat cooked or his greens to be something other than grass. Instead Kairen knelt down on the edge of the oasis, before closing his eyes and leaning towards the surface of the water. He was hoping that if he could feel the water well enough to simulate swimming, that trying to drink it would make him feel like he had put something into his stomach. His experiment was an overwhelming success as Kairen found himself not only feeling like he was swallowing down liquid, but like he was actually tasting it as well.
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Most water he was used to either had a slightly gritty taste even after being filtered, or it had an acrid tang that was the residual magic used in its creation. This water had neither of those flavors, and was the perfect temperature as well. Its connection to either a source of magic or the aquifer far below the desert kept it delightfully cool. For almost a minute Kairen kept taking in gulps of water. After about thirty seconds he opened his eyes, but it seemed that despite the sensation he wasn’t actually consuming water. Kairen didn’t know what would happen if he was. Would there simply be a floating bubble of water in the air? He shook the irrelevant thought aside and continued until he had his fill.
The return of one of his missing senses buoyed Kairen’s mood significantly and soon he returned to his lazy position on the water watching the animals come and go while swirling a mouthful of ghostly water around to simply enjoy the sensation.
The animals were already getting used to the oasis, and by midafternoon more than a few tussles had broken out as different species began to assert their claim. The camels were the worst offenders, kicking at any other creature that tried to approach the area that they had claimed as theirs. The first kill belonged to a pair of hawks though, who dove in tandem on a desert hare. The first forced it to dodge right into the claws of its partner and soon after the two flew off into the air with their meal before ground bound scavengers could take advantage. The event seemed to signal the change to the other species and soon most of the prey animals had made themselves scarce as they left for safer areas and the predator species followed after. A new equilibrium was reached where the remaining animals had enough space and caution to approach the pool, while the jackal and lizards waited patiently for the moment of relaxation where they could close the distance faster than expected. Kairen soon made a game of gambling on the outcome of various battles of wits, even as he was surprised at how many times the predator species would simply pass up on a reasonably good chance to hunt. Of course, the cost of not hunting was minimal, while every failed chase was a large amount of energy that would need to be recouped.
The strangest event of the day happened well into the evening just as shadows from the nearby dunes began to touch the oasis. A trio of sandy balls rolled up through the desert and Kairen observed them in fascination. He had never heard of a species like this and it didn’t take long to find out why.
The trio approached the edge of the pool and began to drink, and as they did so they changed. It seemed the oasis water retained a measure of the purification magic that kept the pool clean and that magic slowly dissolved the sandy camouflage covering the water elementals, revealing them as the watery monsters that they were.
Monster was a good description, as an irritated camel was about to find out. The water elementals were just to the right of the area the camels were resting in, and with its legs tucked beneath it the camel chose instead to deliver a bite to the much smaller creature intruding on its territory.
Instead of hurting the elemental, or even simply being ineffective the attack backfired. The water elemental surged forwards in an instant, surrounding the head of the camel completely as it began to drown it. The poor beast went wild, scrambling to its feet and flailing its head wildly as it tried to free itself, but every action was ineffective. Its distress drove the rest of the small herd into a panic as well, and even as an observer Kairen barely noticed the moment when the other two elementals also grabbed onto their prey. Five minutes later it was all over. The unnatural deaths had cleared the area of all wildlife, and the water elementals had taken up positions on the necks of the camels slowly siphoning out the lifeblood in a steady stream of red. Every now and again they would stop to split off a smaller red orb the size of a fist, which would make its way to the edge of the water to grow and clean itself. By the time the elementals were done with the desiccated corpses there were nearly thirty of the monsters. A quick demonstration by the elders of rolling in the sand to camouflage themselves, and the pack wandered away, leaving a disturbed ghost behind.
Picking up the ability to deter monsters was definitely a priority for Kairen now.