Legend of Ransera

It was true Dakkur had been in a mad rush to get as close as possible towards the obelisk by the end of the season the moment the news of its changes reached him. He put so much effort into his preparations to make his expedition a success such as all that time and effort into making the payment for his current assistant which, could have been a lot more had he not taken advantage of the opportunities of the season from his job and the spirits own desires. He even accepted a cut in his pay for the 'emergency back home' which he suddenly had. After that he had to struggle to wring out the information from his hostess in order to put together all the equipment and items he needed for his trip. For those unfamiliar with his hostess, the woman was extremely tight lipped even on a good day; her extreme secrecy, he learnt; a result of her vocation in the city, her own amusement which came with the spread of information and the the usual, power. And then there was actually making the trip which in itself was an ordeal for someone inexperienced like him. All that and more, that was how important it was that he could reach the obelisk all the way from Zaichaer, quickly.

So important that he even refused his travelling companion the detours it wanted for the sake of sightseeing, always telling the most scenic route was available on the way back... if they were still together in Dakkur's return to Zaichaer. However despite this when he passed by some familiar grounds, he asked "You still want to see the sights? Just for you, we can make a quick trip over to a place I know but remember, we still need to get to the obelisk. No other changes except an hour or two there, we still maintain the same terms. Agreed?" Of course this was not a detour just for the spirit's enjoyment, Dakkur had his own plans there but when it came to dealing with summoned spirits, why would the summoner give those things more reasons to wring out more? Thus, he decided to bring into the deal something the spirit had been constantly bugging him about ever since they passed the Zeraphesh border. The spirit too like Dakkur had some experience with these deals and had his questions but Dakkur explained "its a place I've worked at before. It has plenty of historical significance and if the guys doing the dig there are as lazy as usual, there should be a place for us to rest then you can look around as long as you don't damage any of the old stuff."

The sudden change of heart of Dakkur had made the spirit a little suspicious and Dakkur made one final push. "I need a rest, you want a break to do your own thing. So why don't we go. I'll even give you a little aether of mine so you can enjoy yourself. Just a little, like how long we are going to stick around there before we get back on the road and head over to the obelisk. Alright?" It made sense and there was no reason to disagree so they took that little detour only the airhead which Dakkur thought was nothing more than an airhead displayed its shrewdness in the game. Dakkur noticed that his horse was moving much slower now. Its hooves stomping heavily into the sand which also slowed it down now it no longer had any assistance from the air spirit. Raised eyebrow was not a signal the spirit was familiar with as any other person Dakkur would have picked up on it but after Dakkur asked why was it no longer helping. Well Dakkur had already shared with it a little more aether from his cardinal rune the moment they agreed on the detour and took a step towards their new objective; these actions were what the wind spirit took as the variation of their agreement so it took the idea that it only had to help with the trip to the obelisk, literally, and that it's break had started.

"And here I thought we were friends." The cheeky bastard. But both knew what was going on as the spirit said it was only because it was Dakkur's friend that it decided to teach him the importance of knowing his agreements with the spirits he summoned, now, instead of later where there are spirits with more malicious intents. And if they were really friends Dakkur should not begrudge the spirit its break and the chance to explore it finally got. Pfft. If it was not for the light headed ploy they had going on Dakkur would have displayed to the spirit the true nature of their relationship with some interdiction.

But a little inconvenience was no reason to make use of that and in no time at all Dakkur had reached the old dig site he once worked at. The sands had changed a lot of things from how he remembered it but there were still signs of the old, ancient structures the archaeologists like him worked on as well as the new ones they erected to support that work. The horse let to rest at the post it was tied to and the free spirited windbag flying about, it was all on Dakkur for what he wanted to do. Or was it? Zeraphesh was quite free with the use of magic just like Kalzasi to the north of it or if one were to look at it another way, very unlike Zaichaer and its allys which abhors magic. That said there are some exceptions to that like in archaeology, one of Zeraphesh's main activities. It was less of a law but more of a practice of the community who wanted to do things right and be sure to be able to preserve the artifacts they encountered. Dakkur? While Dakkur agreed with the sentiment, it also meant they would have to make do without some conveniences so sentiment did not stop him from learning a few shortcuts.

And as he was not actually excavating anything important... he was going to dive right into it. Not his whole body of course, but his hand was pressed down right into the sands until it was mostly buried. Then he channeled his aether out from his rune of summoning and had it flow through that arm and then the hand and finally into the sand itself. There may have been some records about it but nothing Dakkur paid attention to; like his family which dealt with hopes and superstitions, Dakkur has no issue with doing what made sense to him and seemed, 'right', and one of these especially when it came to summoning, whatever he wanted to summon would more appropriately summoned in environments or conditions suited to it or it would like. Shifting the aether around he weakened the veil between the sands of Zeraphesh and the plane where the elementals of earth came from before he called out a name. A short while later the sands rumbled and slowly something came up to its surface.

"Hi there," Dakkur said in greeting to the lesser earth spirit he used to... "no I'm not cheating again. Is that what you really think about me?" Ok so he used to cheat. "Anyone else would do it if they can do it too," but they were getting far from the point. Dakkur did not know what to do with the sleepy spirit but "well you don't have to worry this time. We aren't going to be digging up anything important. No one is going to hate or scold you like last time. Anyway we are alone and you know I wouldn't scold you for something I want you to do..." unless it fucked up. Anyway he pointed out the signs of the newer structures made by the archaeologists, it was going to be the "same deal as usual? Point out some things for me and you get a little of my aether in return or if you can bring it up too? I don't think they are going to be fragile. They aren't going to be ancient artifacts."

What were they exactly? Well Dakkur was unable to prepare any tools since he was in a rush to find the stores specially catered to his profession and he had to travel light. He took a little to think about it and then started to draw into the sand as he described the basic tools pertaining to archaeology he needed, shovels, brushes, spades and all those other things. It was these more important things he pointed out since, assuming they were kept together, he might be able to find a stash with almost everything he needed. The earth spirit found the stuff rather quickly but having no interest in getting them out, told Dakkur to just give it the usual so it could be on its way. Typical of it. Its was a lazy one and Dakkur thought would have done something about it it wanted to be something more than just another lesser spirit but some things never changed.

The wind spirit found Dakkur again when he was in the process of getting the stash out and finding the traces of the earth spirit had to ask Dakkur why. Wind and earth were elements quite opposed so Dakkur should not have been surprised with the demeanor of the wind spirit when talking about the earth spirit it had not even met but more surprisingly, "you have a younger brother? Spirits have brothers?" What? Well some spirits have relationships with those under them akin to siblings and this had one and why was this an important issue? The wind spirit had an issue of Dakkur not summoning his brother to help him with the search and instead getting one of those lazy earth spirits to help him. "Fine I'll call on your brother next time if I need something done which needs his help. What's his name and what does he do?" Dakkur asked as he started pulling out and appraising the tools he wanted from the stash.