Araedi. Day 06.

Sinnamon left the Archive and was inundated with a flood of notifications; largely messages and missed calls from Sparrow and JonJon asking where they had gone. She, Weaver, and AnnaLee filled the twins in on their meeting with the Archivist as they crossed Araedi to get to Yentel and Gavriel’s shop.

Sinnamon knocked furiously at the door until a sleepy-eyed Gavriel opened the door. “Sinnamon? Is everything all right? What’s the emergency?”

“We need to find a waystone to get to Fel.” Sinnamon said, forgoing all pretense.

The mention of the word “Fel” seemed to wake the older man up immediately. He pushed the door open wider. “Come in.”

They sat around the largest table and Yentel poked her head out of the kitchen. “What’s with all the noise, Gav?”

“They're asking about Fel, Yen.”

“We've met the Archivist, he told us about Reylynn and showed us why we're here. To stop that monster Isiphelo,” Sinnamon said. “He said we need to get to Fel to meet with the Archivist.”

Quietly, Yentel said, “Reylynn has finally made her move, then?”

Sinnamon looked at Weaver, then back to Yentel. “The Architect told us Reylynn is gone. That's why we need to get to Fel.”

“Take us to the Archivist.” Gavriel gestured for the group to follow him down to his workshop and Yentel was right behind them. He opened the wardrobe that held his and Yentel’s armor and distributed the pieces between himself and his wife.

Sinnamon watched the older couple don their armor and shot Weaver a questioning glance. The pair weren't exactly young, were they really thinking about coming with them?

Gavriel answered Sinnamon’s unasked question with a gesture. His hand glowed a soft purple and his appearance changed. His hair went from white to a freshly greying red and the wrinkles on his face smoothed some, giving him an ageless look that was showing only the slightest signs of faltering. But the most significant change was his status page.

Name: Gavriel

Age: 573

Race: Half-Revi, Half-Serethi Elf

Class: Archmage, level 75

Profession: Engineer, level 50

Specialty: Tinker, level 50

Health Points: 21,650/21,650

Mana Points: 95,220/95,220

Yentel mirrored the gesture. She stood up straighter, losing the slight hunch in her back. Her silver hair shifted to blonde, tinged with red and she adopted the same semi-ageless appearance as Gavriel. Her stat change was equally as impressive.

Name: Yentel

Age: 575

Race: Half-Revi, Half-Serethi Elf

Class: Arcane Rogue, level 75

Profession: Baker, level 50

Health Points: 27,900/27,900

Mana Points: 61,110/61,110

Gavriel cleared his throat. “We were asked by Reylynn to watch for her return and to ensure the Guardian cities and Remnants stayed out of the wrong hands. If the Architect believes Reylynn is gone and has taken steps to put you in touch with the Archivist, then we need to move quickly. Please take us to the Archivist.”

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The Archive was dark and quiet when they returned to it. Sinnamon called out to the Archivist, but there was no answer.

Gavriel walked over to the device on the stage and rested a hand on it. Sinnamon was about to warn him against the action when the older man spoke.

“The machine’s been damaged. We couldn’t get it working even if we had the key.” Gavriel bent down and picked up a small blue crystal and a rusty band beside it. He held the items almost reverently. “Oh, Utitshala. So few of you left. There had been hundreds, thousands. Now, only the Architect.”

Sinnamon studied the blue crystal. “You mean that’s the Archivist? What happened to him? He was just here.”

Gavriel nodded. "He's been around a long time without a way to get any mana. I'm surprised he survived so long. In order to take you to Fel, we’ll have to track down Rien and Regis.” Gavriel pulled an old, leather-bound book from his bag. “If either of them are near their books, I’ll leave a message… Oh…”

Yentel raised an eyebrow. “Oh…?”

“Regis left a note, dated a month ago. He said he doesn’t expect to be around much longer and he’s leaving his key with Rien near Pella.”

Yentel placed a hand on Gavriel’s arm. “The old coot could have at least remembered to let the note alert us.”

Gavriel smiled with little mirth. “Guess we have to track down Rien. Last I heard, he settled down north of here. The way to Fel is extremely dangerous. If you have any stronger allies, you may wish to bring them.”

Saiph and their friends were currently fighting their way to Pallas’ watch. Glancing at their health and mana bars showed they were likely in a fight right now.

There really only was one other person in the immediate area who could help them. Sinnamon sent a message to Halzy and before they were even at the city gates, Sinnamon received a reply saying he would meet them outside Pella.

Halzy stood outside the ruins of the old farmhouse in his emerald green armor. Beside him was a tall, slender, grey-furred Cait Sidhe in sky blue armor with white accents as well as a green-skinned man with vines and leaves for hair dressed in a cloak made entirely of thick bands of evergreen branches.

Halzy introduced the pair as Singapura and Hogweed Le Burn, members of his and Wisteria Leothalis’ guild. “Had I known this was the place you were looking for, I’d have saved you the trip. They were attacked shortly before Pella was. No one survived.”

Gavriel walked through the rubble. “Not Rien. I don’t believe it.”

Halzy took off his helmet, his expression grim. “We searched beyond the village after we rounded up the rest of those who attacked Pella. We didn’t find anyone.”

Suddenly Yentel called out. “Gavriel! In here!”

All of them ran into the room where Yentel stood pointing at the ground.

“Know what this is?”

Gavriel bent down and wiped away some dust and laughed. “He built his home on top of the waystone? That sly old man!”

Sinnamon looked at the hexagon that had been carved into the stone floor around it. There were symbols in a language she couldn’t read. “The Archivist mentioned needing to find a waystone, what are they?”

“They are gateways, similar to the crystals you Guardians use to travel between cities and allow you to revive. But they use an older, more raw form of mana. Anyone who can supply enough mana to one can use them. Fel is otherwise impossible to reach without them.”

“Can you activate it?” Yentel asked.

“I should be able to, but it was recently used. it’ll take a lot of mana to overcome the delay put in place on it.”

“Delay?” Sinnamon asked.

“Yes, to keep out unintended followers, the waystones drastically increase the mana needed to fuel themselves before they can be reused for a time.”

Sinnamon looked up from the waystone to Gavriel. His own mana pool was impressively large; that he still held concerns worried Sinnamon. “How much mana?”

He looked between Sinnamon and the rest of their party. “If you have any mana restoration potions, you will all want to get them ready.”

Halzy brought the eight of them into a raid party. Singapura’s Paladin subclass had a mana pool and regeneration buff that extended to all of them in addition to the potions they doled out.

Gavriel placed a hand on the waystone and the runes on it began to glow blue. A message appeared in front of Sinnamon’s face.

Alert! You are attempting to teleport to an Instanced Dungeon. As you are utilizing a waystone to enter, you will automatically be placed in a safe room, but will be unable to leave this dungeon without finding its main safe zone.

Halzy let out a breath. “Huh. That’s interesting. So it leads to a dungeon.”

Hogweed nodded. “But did you catch the wording? It didn’t say anything about levels. Never seen an instanced dungeon that was okay with a party gap as wide as ours.”

“Me neither. Unable to leave, that's the part that's got me worried,” Singapura said.

“Another safety feature,” Gavriel assured.

Sinnamon saw her own mana pool begin to drop. At first it was a slow trickle, but the waystone quickly attacked the blue bar with ravenous fury.

The drop in her mana pool accelerated and she downed her first restore potion. The potion did little to counteract the waystone’s hunger and Sinnamon could feel pain behind her eyes as her mana was pulled from her. She gritted her teeth and uncorked another restoration potion as the pain intensified.

Sparrow had the smallest mana pool of their group and she fell to her knees first, head cradled in her arms. JonJon went down next. Then AnnaLee. And then Weaver.

Blackness crept at the corners of Sinnamon’s vision as she strained against the tightening grip of unconsciousness. Her mana bar bottomed out completely and as she brought the third bottle to her lips, Sinnamon dropped to the ground. She barely finished the bottle before she was out.

Sinnamon awoke on cold, hard stone, surrounded by the still forms of her friends. Her eyes instantly locked with a woman with red hair wearing orange mage robes. Behind the woman were two girls with the same reddish hair as the woman.

The woman raised a wand and mana began to swirl around it. Before Sinnamon could say or do anything, unconsciousness gripped her once more.

The end of Part Four.