Shelah led them out to sea for several miles, which only took Serenity fifteen minutes.  The heavily enchanted ship cut through the water like a fiery blade through cream.  Renald had left Picket in charge of the remaining members of his crew to see to the repairs of Voltspear.  Keyvan stayed behind to tend to the wounded and guard the few pirates who had switched sides toward the end of the fight.

Renald knew several players that would give him a fortune for Voltspear.  It was far more valuable than a magical weapon, and only one existed in the game.  He would be a rich man soon.  He was more than willing to take a slight detour to help the curious goblin who had made it all possible.

Ellanay was the only one of his unique crew that stayed on Serenity for this mission, and Renald put Psycho and Draya to work hauling lines and angling sales while the female elf navigated.  Cloudspark’s ship wasn’t the only prize Renald got, as he had plundered gold and gems worth tens of thousands.  Once he had deposited it into his ship's treasure store, he got the option to spend some of it to respawn the nameless NPC crew members he had lost.  Before they reached their destination, experienced sailors emerged from the crew quarters. They took over for Psycho and Draya, allowing the pair to appreciate the cool night breeze for the trip’s final few minutes.  Gromphy found his trunk at the prow where he had fainted and spent the quick trip sorting through it.

Once they arrived, Psycho, Draya, Gromphy, Renald, Ellanay, Shelah, and Snowy assembled mid-ship.    They stood next to the door that serviced the gangway when docked.  Now, with it open, it only offered access to the cold, dark water below.  “What exactly is our plan?” Psycho asked, eying the drop-off with trepidation.

Gromphy said nothing and pulled out the crafting project he had been working on.  Everyone took a step back.  This was the first time Psycho had seen it.  “What is that?”

“The Armanacore,” Gromphy said.

“The what?”

Draya laughed, happy the crafter had finally found a good name for the item.  “It is the armadillion’s mana core.  You know.  The reason we got the Frosthold.”

“It looks . . . different,” Psycho said.  What had been an amorphous blob, constantly shifting in shape, was now a perfect 20-sided gemstone of polished black obsidian with glowing orange centers on each face.

“What do you need the magic of my kingdom for?” Shelah asked in awe.  “If you are capable of crafting such an item.  There is nothing I can help you with.”

“I wish to join this with a living soul,” Gromphy explained.  “Presently, the lava core is alive, but alas, it will spell doom for the potential host.  Once extinguished, this will be an inanimate lump of rock.  Powerful, but unable to fuse with a life.  You are fused with a fish, Draeklynn with a fire wyrm.  Likewise, this must become a living stone.”

Shelah looked at Draya, unaware she had a dragon inside her, but he stayed on topic.  “Ahh, that my kingdom can do.  It creates and maintains living coral as its primary function.  However, we will need substantial fuel.  Do you have gold and gems?”

“I thought we might avail ourselves of a wealth already destined for thy kingdom.”

“Huh?” Shelah said.

Psycho understood and looked outside the group to the ship’s central mast.  There, Onan was shackled and lashed tightly to the thick pole.  The younger merman saw the tall elf’s attention shift to his older brother and nodded.  Shelah walked over to Onan, who had learned quickly not to struggle against his bonds lest he be rendered Helpless.

“This plan of yours, whatever it is, won’t work, little brother,” the captive spat.  “Already, I have allegiance greater than our father.  If you kill me, no one will . . .”

“Shut up,” Shelah said, walking up to him and pressing his hand against Onan’s shoulder.  The added force rendered the older brother Helpless, and Shelah could explore his inventory.  Within a dozen seconds, he had extracted more than enough hoarded wealth to fuel his kingdom for a month.

Onan sensed what his brother had done and leaned forward once released, momentarily forgetting his bound state.  His arm strained toward his sibling, and he failed his roll, collapsing into a limp figure lashed to the mast.  Shelah regarded his pathetic form and sighed.  He spun away from the captive and returned to the waiting collection of characters.  “That should be enough,” he informed them.

“Is there a protocol for entrance into thy kingdom?” Gromphy asked.

“That depends,” Shelah asked.  “How many are coming?  I could smuggle one of your stature without issue.”

“I need Draeklynn,” Gromphy said.

“If the young woman is going,” Psycho said, “I am too.  I won’t let anything happen to her.”

“If I may,” Ellanay ventured, “I would also like to accompany.  I’ve never seen a merfolk kingdom before.”  She looked at her leader, and Renald nodded.

“Is it everyone, then?” Shelah asked.

The captain lifted his hands and stepped back.  “I like to keep my head above water, thank you very much.  Besides, someone has to stay and look after the ship.”

The merman looked at Snowy, already expecting the response.  The wolf whimpered, shook her head, and stepped toward the captain, away from the open door and the eerie black water below.  “Five of us.  Very well.”  He looked at Psycho and Ellanay.  “With the armor you are wearing, the trip down will be easy.  You will have to remove it to return.”  He looked at Gromphy and Draya, who didn’t wear armor.  “You can hold my hands.”

“How long will we need to hold our breath?” Psycho asked.

“Longer than you likely could,” Shelah said.  “Don’t worry; I shall take care of that if you stick close to me.”  He moved to the open door.  “The longer we wait, the more apprehensive you will be.  We should go now.”  Without another word, he dove out through the gap in the railing with perfect form.  His legs transformed into a tail, and his pants disappeared into his inventory.  The merman made hardly a splash as he knifed into the water.

Gromphy was the only character in the group who couldn’t swim yet was eager to see this mission through. He was the next to follow, performing a cannonball in the water right above Shelah’s entry point.  The rest of the group wasn’t to be outdone, and they jumped one after another.

True to his word, Shelah hovered just under the water's surface in the center of a ten-foot sphere.  Outside the circle, Psycho struggled with the weight of his suddenly wet cloak and sodden pants, but once he kicked his legs and pumped his arms to maneuver into the pocket of magic, that encumbrance disappeared.  He could tell he was still underwater, as his limbs moved through the “air” as if weighed down, but his clothes hung naturally, and he felt compelled to open his mouth and “breathe.”  Oxygen filled his lungs.  It felt cold and thick, like breathing in a heavy fog.  Psycho turned around to see the other characters adjusting to the unique experience.  Gromphy had jumped directly into the protective sphere and clung to Shelah like a frightened child to his mother.  The two women showed similar concern on their faces but refrained from any bodily signs of desperation.

Ellanay struggled the most as her plate armor dragged her to the bottom of the sphere, and she kicked and swam desperately to keep her head in the safe zone.  Shelah noticed her discomfort, took Draya by the hand, and inverted his body to swim down.  The sphere moved with him, and he matched the speed of Ellanay’s natural descent.  Psycho had to swim to keep up and eventually reached out to grab that paladin by the ankle.  Initially, she kicked out in alarm, fearing a predatory fish had snared her.  Once she saw who it was, she relaxed and allowed the fellow elf to descend beside her, and together, they swam down as fast as they could, hand in hand.  Shelah had no problem matching their speed.

Only the priest's magical vestment gave any light in the inky blackness, the moon from above a distant memory.  Gems in his tunic glowed faintly yellow, glimmering off the scales on his lower body.  The merman pulled ahead of the elf pair, giving them a beacon to follow and diminishing the oppressive blackness around them.

Soon, Shelah was not the only light they saw.  Ahead, a faint glow appeared in the distance.  As they drew closer, the light increased, and soon, they could make out a spherical dome bathed in the same soft yellow glow of Shelah’s vestment.

It was a city, and Psycho appreciated their relatively slow approach, giving him ample time to take it all in.  The buildings inside the dome were constructed of stone and coral decorated with flowering seaweed and luminescent invertebrates. A rainbow assortment of tiny fish swam in schools through the “air” of the city like birds above towering cathedrals.  Above sea level, on the surface, it was rare to see a structure taller than three stories outside of a magical wizard’s tower, but underwater gravity worked differently, and vast staircases weren’t needed to traverse vertically through the tall structures.  The dome was relatively small, not more than a mile in diameter, but its impressive height must have allowed it to house thousands of merfolk.

As they drew within a few dozen feet of the upper edge of the dome, Psycho saw two other mermen standing guard at the entrance, having spotted the approaching troop a long time ago.  Behind them, the city seemed almost deserted.

“Prince Shelah,” one said, leveling a trident toward the group.  “What is the meaning of this?  Prince Onan did not tell us of any planned visit.  Outsiders are not welcome, especially while the king is away.”

“And why would I need my brother’s approval to enter my own city?” Shelah asked, stopping with ten feet between his bubble’s curve and the dome.

Psycho also helped Ellanay pull up short, and together, they treaded water effectively.  For a moment, the female released his hand to remove her heavy armor now that they had descended.  Psycho tried hard not to be distracted by the way her undershirt clung to her wet body.

“I, uh, well,” the guard stuttered under Shelah’s pointed question.  “It was my understanding that you were under his care.  That you were on a mission above to, uh, bring . . .”

“Under his care?” Shelah almost shouted.  “Am I still a child?  Yes, we are on a mission to bring wealth to our kingdom.  And I have done just that.  It is too much to carry alone, so I have brought my associates.”

“Your, ah, associates?” the other guards asked.  “And a goblin?  Never has such a creature entered our . . .”

Gromphy released his hold on the merman, trusting him not to let him fall, and produced his massive trunk.  The sudden weight nearly dropped him like a stone, but Shelah’s tail was up to the challenge, and with a firm grip on the crafter’s belt, he held him aloft.  Gromphy opened the chest briefly, magically manipulating the contents so it showed what he wanted.  Diamonds, gold coins, and bags of rubies practically spilled out of the full box, glowing brightly with their own magical presence.

“Well, uh, that certainly looks . . .” the first guard said.

“My apologies, sir goblin,” the second said.  “I had no idea . . .”

Even Shelah’s jaw grew slack at the tremendous wealth.  He composed himself quicker than the guards did.  “May we pass now?  May I enter my home?”

“Uh, of course.  Please.”

The guards floated to the side, allowing passage through the small gap in the dome.  Shelah led the group through and turned to Gromphy once they were safely out of earshot of the guards.  “I wouldn’t try an illusion like that again,” he said.  “My people have a strong resistance against magic, especially when inside our kingdom.”

“What illusion?” the goblin asked.

“All that wealth you just showed.”  Shelah looked into Gromphy’s unflinching face.  “That wasn’t an illusion?  Then why did you say you needed my brother’s stolen riches?”

“They were available,” Gromphy said.  “Dost thou not agree that we shalt use them for a more noble cause?  Wouldst thou rather they be used to bribe thy father’s subjects?”

Selah shrugged, conceding the point.  “I fear that might have already happened.”  He glanced back at the guards who had delayed them but continued without further comment.  He led the group through the towering spires toward the city’s center.  The merman moved quickly, though obviously not as quickly as he could, allowing the others to keep up.

Psycho took in the sights, savoring this unique experience.  The “atmosphere” inside the dome was comparable to the experience inside the priest’s bubble, only the magical aura was much more potent.  They had struggled to swim in the ocean, but now he could will his body in any direction, and movement was simple.  They proceeded leisurely without kicking or stroking their arms, and Shelah was patient with them, allowing the guests to savor the experience.

Still, Psycho expected more.  He had anticipated mermen and maids swimming about the kingdom in colorful clothes, but it looked more like a ghost town.  They saw at most half a dozen merfolk swimming between buildings, and they darted in and out of sight as fast as lightning.  Once the group entered the central capital structure, the density of merfolk increased, but only slightly.

As they moved through tighter hallways and got closer together, Psycho asked about it.  “I don’t know,” Shelah said.  “It concerns me too.  We have never been a large kingdom in my lifetime, but I agree that the city looks empty.  I know my father is out, as you have informed me, and he has likely taken a large group with him.  I fear my brother was right when he said he has garnered loyalty among my people.  If our mana core felt too strong a dissident force, it might lash out to protect itself.  Perhaps Onan has sequestered his contingent elsewhere.”

He paused to look at Psycho and Gromphy, wondering who the leader of this mission was.  “I do not regret assisting you, and I will keep my word.  But we must not tarry.  I fear horrible things are about to happen.”  Psycho asked no more questions, and the rest of the trip took place in silence.

Two more merfolk stood at attention outside the domed structure housing the central mana core.  Their appearance more closely matched Shelah’s priestly attire than the guards they had met earlier.  After a few quiet words from the prince, they left their post and allowed the group entrance.  None of the characters were players, so none had ever seen a power plant or nuclear reactor before, but if they had, comparisons to this setup would have been instantaneous.

A glowing yellow ball of pure energy sat at the top of a six-foot-tall, raised dais in the center of the domed encloser.  Only the top half of the ten-foot sphere was visible, but they all assumed its full shape was contained in the raised platform.  Though it looked like a miniature sun, no heat emanated from it.  Instead, a thick collar of gold, silver, and diamonds encircled the ball with thick cables running down the slope and out to the room's perimeter, undoubtedly carrying the magical energy produced to the vibrant kingdom outside.

There was little space along the room’s perimeter to stand, so the group floated up along the slopped dais to look closer at the pulsating sphere in the center.  Gromphy pulled a ruby from his vest and tossed it into the orb.  The gemstone vanished as soon as it entered the translucent sphere, and, like a long snake swallowing a mouse, everyone could feel a lump of energy pass through the six pipes and exit the room.

“Excellent,” Gromphy said.  He had stayed close to Shelah since they had entered the water but now left the priest and swam down toward two giant cables lying on the floor.

“What will you do?” the merman asked.

Gromphy didn’t answer.  Instead, he had his chest out and began removing items that far exceeded the trunk's external size.  Soon, he had two crafting tables erected in the limited space, with smaller cables extending down from each.  After a flair of crafting magic, they connected to the much larger lines flanking them.  Gromphy placed potions, books, gemstones, and even a live rat on the two tables as he worked in a flurry of action.  Eventually, he pulled the Armanacore from the trunk, set it gently in a cradle on one table, and put the Frosthold on the other.

“What in the name of the sea gods is that?” Shelah said at the sight of the last object.  As a priest, he could feel the power of the magical artifact and floated further away.  He didn’t know which scared him more, the dizzying web of dragon fire on the outside or the depth of the polar vortex in the center.

Gromphy didn’t answer.  He finished connecting the objects with more cables and mixed the raw ingredients, snapping the rat’s neck and dropping it into the concoction at the end.  Even though they were all underwater, the sea did not mix with his volatile potion that bubbled and hissed into the liquid atmosphere.

“Add the gold now,” Gromphy said.  He waited for six seconds, and when nothing changed, he turned to look at Shelah expectantly.  “We hath no time to waste,” he added.

The merman priest had floated as far from the goblin as possible, pressing his back against the curved roof almost fifteen feet above the floor.  “What are you doing?  What if this goes wrong?  I didn’t know you had . . .”

The potion in Gromphy’s hand grew more violent, and cracks appeared in the glass.  “Do it now!” the little goblin shouted, his voice a gargled yell in the confined room.

Shelah responded without thinking, emptying his inventory into the city’s mana core.  The tremendous wealth he had collected disappeared into the energy cell and sent massive waves of magic through the six cables.  However, the pulses that traveled through the two conduits that flanked Gromphy’s position never left the room, diverting instead into his workstation.  The goblin finally poured his concoction over the Frosthold and watched as the dragon fire leaked out of the outer layers, turning the ambient water into steam pockets.

Soon, the entire workstation disappeared in an intense vapor cloud, and everyone else looked on eagerly, fearful of what might be happening inside.  A spell from Gromphy cleared the vapor before it burned him and allowed him to focus on the transfer.

Psycho watched intently.  As the least magically inclined character in the room, even he could follow the paths of energy taking place.  With the containment Draya had placed on the Frosthold removed, the vortex to the lower planes was free to suck heat out of anything within range, and it naturally went for the hottest thing it could find.  Gromphy had secured it to the Armanacore, and Psycho watched the orange glow inside the intricate stone fade as the Frosthold sucked the lava into oblivion.  Lest the stone lose its magical and living properties, the massive cables along the floor pumped power into it in equal measure.

It took several rounds for Shelah to deposit the significant wealth his brother had stolen and even more for the kingdom’s mana core to consume it.  When the process was close to completion, Gromphy called out.  “Draeklynn! Come hither!  I need thy fire!”

The mage swam over as instructed and stood across the tables from the goblin, with her back almost pressed against the room’s domed walls.

“When the spell concludes, thy dragon fire is required to encase the Frosthold once more.”

She nodded in silence, carefully monitoring the process.  The Armanacore was almost empty.  Its orange glow was reduced to nothing and replaced with a vibrant blue pulsing energy.  Gromphy’s hands were poised over switches controlling the diverted power as he surveyed his experiment.  “Now!” he said suddenly, throwing both levers so the magic again pulsed through the giant cables and out of the room.

Draya picked up the Frosthold and summoned her dragon fire.  Gromphy grabbed the transformed stone and swam out of the way as a bubble of intense vapor instantly consumed the young woman.  Everyone in the room felt the temperature rise and floated further away.  As quickly as the steam cloud appeared, it vanished, sucked into oblivion by the awoken Frosthold.  Instead, ice formed in the water, drawing crackling lines like lightning emanating from the artifact’s center.

Draya panicked and emitted another torrent of dragon fire.  She could melt the freezing water around her but couldn’t get her magic to penetrate the complex outer network of the tesseract.  She turned it over in her hands, trying to apply fire to every side, but the four-dimensional object defied her three-dimensional efforts and found ways to leak out and freeze new lines of ice in the room.

“It’s not working!” she cried, desperately trying to keep up with the hungry vortex.  “I can’t get my fire in.”

“You idiots!” Shelah said.  “Dragon fire doesn’t work underwater.”

Gromphy had a look of pure terror cross his face.  “Oops,” he added in a tremendous understatement.  “We must all flee,” he said with sincere urgency.  His trunk was already in his inventory, and he abandoned everything else he had extracted and swam toward the exit.

Shelah was right on his heels.  “I must warn my people,” the priest said.  “We need to evacuate the city.”

Ellanay tugged on Psycho’s arm, but the ranger didn’t move.  “I will not desert her,” he said through gritted teeth.

“Leave!” Draya shouted.  “I will give you time.”  Strain filled her voice as she constantly rotated the device, fighting desperately to keep the deadly ice at bay.  “I can hold it off for a little longer.”

Psycho pulled his elemental bow and loaded a flaming arrow.  He fired within a second and was surprised to see how much speed the projectile maintained as it streaked toward his target through the watery atmosphere.  However, the fire disappeared when it left his bow, and the arrow glanced off ice crystals forming around his target.  He fired six shots in two rounds, and only the final one hit the Frosthold.  It bounced off harmlessly.

“Go!” Draya shouted again.

“You’ll die!” Psycho bit back.

“Then I’ll wake up in bed, like Esther,” the mage replied.  “No sense in both of us going through that process.  Jace will need your help.”

“Nal,” Ellanay pleaded, tugging on the stronger elf’s arm.  “We need to go.  You know she’s right.”

Psycho cursed and put his bow away.  “Jace will never forgive me,” Psycho replied.

“But you will be alive,” the paladin said.

Tendrils of ice escaped Draya’s efforts and attempted to wrap themselves around the reluctant elf.  He drew his katana and shattered them like hacking at a dozen tentacles trying to ensnare him.  Psycho knew that if the ice touched his flesh, the artifact could suck the heat out of him in seconds.  He cursed again and allowed Ellanay to drag him out of the room, leaving Draya alone to battle the Frosthold.