Tonight we finished up a series of quests that involved Cothynta, the self-styled “Lady of Fire.”
Sharry was compelled (by way of an agreement with a powerful efreeti) to close a rogue series of portals leading to the Plane of Fire.
Sharry was still fuming as he wound up the staircase to the efreeti’s castle quarters. At least these new legs of mine make the trip up a bit easier, he thought.
No. No glass half full right now. Angry time.
He arrived at the top of the spiral, not even waiting to enter the room before ranting. “Jaheira, what the hell?!”
The efreeti sat at a long work bench with her back to the door. A score of glass vials and tubes tangled with each other in front of her, bubbling away and whistling gently. She didn’t change her posture, not even a flinch dammit, but remained hunched over her bench, writing methodically on some parchment.
“I said –“
“I heard what you said, little one.” She glanced up from her writing and squinted at a vial, tapping it with her magma-red fingernail. “I decided to give you time to reevaluate your approach.” She bent her head down again. Scratch scratch.
Sharry silently counted to five, and felt his body relax a bit. “Right.” He lightened his tone a bit, though he couldn’t keep it from sounding forced. “Were you aware that I almost died on this most recent outing to the Norstaam?”
Scratch scratch. “Unless I’m mistaken, you almost die relatively often.” Jaheira looked up and squinted at a different beaker, one with a blue bubbling liquid that looked to have the texture of mud. “Occasionally, you even manage to succeed.” She formed a sign with her fingers, and many of the flames lowered in intensity.
I hate these games. “I hate these games, Jaheira. Can’t you just answer me directly for once?!” Sharry moved to the chair beside the fire. Spring couldn’t come soon enough.
The efreeti finally turned to Sharry. Her coal-black skin still put him off. “You haven’t yet asked a direct question, little one.” Gods, it was hard to even tell if she blinked, with those black eyes and that charcoal skin.
“Fine. What happened to me up there? The gifts you gave me stopped working. It nearly wiped us out!”
Jaheira cocked her head to one side. “I don’t recall giving you any gifts.”
“What are y–“
“No, I’m certain. You received no gifts. You did purchase something, though.” The air warped around her slightly, the rug at her feet singing. “And I have yet to receive payment.”
Sharry froze. Right. He’d been so distracted with the Etela and the Broken Tusks that he’d completely forgotten. His anger evaporated. “Oh. Yeah. Sorry about that.”
“Not yet, you aren’t.” A tiny figure, composed entirely of flame, appeared at Jaheira’s feet. She reached over to a few balled up pieces of parchment, and handed – fed? – them to the miniature elemental. The odor of charred sheep skin circulated through the room. “The portals are still open. I’m beginning to think you want a refund.”
“No,” Sharry responded, a bit more quickly than he’d intended. “No.” Think fast. “In fact, that was the next mission the Guild was going on.”
Her face was impenetrable. She stared at Sharry for a good ten seconds, the only noise in the chamber a chorus of flames. Then, a saccharine smile plastered her face. “That’s good to hear, little one. I prefer to remain Jaheira the Extremely Kind.” She began to turn back toward her notes, clearly done with Sharry.
“Wait. How– What should– How would you go about closing these portals?” Sharry tried to sound confident. Just a patron, asking for input from an advisor.
The efreeti stopped her turn and cocked her head again. “Did I ask for instruction from you for my part of our transaction? If you need more information, I suggest you seek it out from those to whom you do not already owe a debt.”
Eff. “I was just–“
“If you need to move a magma river, you can dry up its source. You can create a dam. You can redirect it upstream. You can cool it into obsidian.” This time, Jaheira did turn back to her notes and picked up her quill. “I care not how you close the portals. I only care that they’re extinguished.” As she said the final word, Sharry heard a tiny scream as the elemental writhed and winked out of existence.
Sharry understood when he was being dismissed. He walked toward the open archway.
Just before he reached the door, Sharry suddenly felt weaker. His armor weighed him down, suddenly becoming an uncomfortable, distracting burden. As soon as it came it went.
“The next time we meet, those gates will be closed,” the efreeti said, still scratching away. “Otherwise, I will extract my payment from you. With interest.” The scratching stopped. She lifted her head. “Direct enough for you, little one?”
Yeah. Sharry stomped out of the room. Got it.
These portals turned out to be a byproduct of Cothynta – an adolescent red dragon that had moved into the area to research a (seemingly) abandoned dwarven stronghold. The players had to either convince her to leave or kill her. They chose the latter. Within a few days, the portals disappeared and Sharry’s bargain was fulfilled.
Given that the purpose of this quest was to close a bunch of portals, I thought a Portal-themed project was appropriate. I’d originally thought of doing something with a chicken sticking its head through one portal and having it pop out elsewhere on the canvas through another. (The party’s Plan A was to polymorph the dragon into a chicken and toss it through a Portal and trap it in the fire plane). But that was (1) not canonical to how the portals worked and (2) outside of my drawing abilities.
So I decided instead to make a Cothynta-appropriate Portal test chamber plaque. That way, I could rip off the structure wholesale and focus on the fun details that made the adventure unique.
For an explanation of all the elements, here’s an annotated version: