The Hidden Threat in Toril

Grumbar stood with his hands on his hips, pacing across the platform with a rumble. His ruby-like eyes flashed incessantly.

Change went against his nature. He believed in keeping his feet on the ground, and he truly could not understand why Hill, one of the Children of the Earth, carried the stink of wind and liked living up in the air!

He felt that he and Hill saw things too differently, so he had not wanted to sign a contract with him.

As for all that talk of permanent neutrality, elemental neutrality only went so far. Unless someone was a true enemy, could he really stop them from using earth-element magic?

He hated magic ships, yet he had never attacked one.

Grumbar knew he might not be so lucky next time. He might never meet another summoner so friendly to Elemental Sprites.

All Hill wanted was for them to protect the city. He had no intention of binding their wills. When nothing needed doing, the Elemental Sprites could wander around the city as they pleased.

If they wanted to return to the Elemental Realm, a single thought would take them home.

The mages who summoned Elemental Sprites could never offer that kind of safety and freedom.

When the mages of Faerûn summoned Earth Elementals, their first instinct was to bind them permanently. Those misers always hoped one gemstone would buy an Earth Elemental's entire life!

As if! Grumbar would sooner spend vast amounts of time each year rescuing those poor fools who had been tricked than let the mages get their way.

Still, Hill truly was powerful in his own right.

Grumbar knew that many elementals summoned to the Main World wanted to slip away and roam the continent. But not one of the elementals here could leave the Mythal's