Cave of Old Flames

Riffie returns

Cave of Old Flames is the sixteenth session of Campaign 1. In the session, Arine of Riveryew, Lord Darcy Hall, and Orion Brightward enter The Cave of Mortund, tackle puzzles, and face foes of old.

The following contains spoilers for the Tale of Locksmith's Bane.

## Plot

Feast Day 22 Chauntoro 1021 TE

"Fuck"

"Are you stuck, big guy?" Darcy calls to his heavy-armoured companion. Locksmith's Bane push further and further into the depths of the tunnel, as the space grows thinner and thinner. As Darcy scouts ahead, and Arine lights the way, Orion stumbles at the back of the pack.

As the adventurers continue their crawl for what feels like an eternity, water begins to trickle down the sloping passage. Orion warns the group that he can't get rid of it, as the water builds into a rushing stream. Fearful of slipping down a slope, Darcy attempts to turn himself in the narrow space. Before Arine, the refined gentleman twists and turns, silhouetted by her lights. After an intense struggle, the warlock gives up, without a word to his companions.

Inspired to do the same, Arine gracefully leaps from crawl to scoot, ready for any drops in the distance. After a muddy escapade, Darcy finds himself at a steep drop. Pushed to proceed by water, mud, and heavy breathing behind him, Darcy slips down the passage. Arine manages to secure her footing, clasping onto the rocks to her side. Unbeknown to the wizard, a tumbling mass of flesh and metal follows behind her. Orion rolls down the passage at full sped, striking his fellow adventurers in his path. The trio hit the cold, hard floor of a level passage, no longer needing to crawl.

"Ouch" states Arine, collapsed in the mud. As Darcy adjusts himself, he casts prestidigitation on the boulder's victims, returning to their beautiful, clean state. An apologetic, filthy Orion suggests he lead the way so as not to crush his companions again, handing his warhammer to Darcy for safekeeping at the back. The space is just wide enough for the hulking paladin to squeeze past Arine with no problem. A tension glistens, however, from the boys as they rub passed one another, chest to chest. Readying their weapons, the group press on.

In search of the Dark Stone, their troubles lead them into a large cavern, lined with tunnels and symbols of The Typhrenian Gods. Before them, a large, artificial hole, thirty-feet across. Arine's lights illuminate the room. Curious of the hole, but terrified of the prospect of another fall, Orion peaks his head over the hole, unable to see any bottom to the pit. As the group enter, Arine, the brightest of the bunch, finally comes to the conclusion that the quote on the door was from the story "The Cave of Mortund". Her companions turn to her befuddled.

Returning to the matter at hand, the group begin to investigate. Darcy drops a copper coin down the hole, and guesses that it is a further drop than Darkstone tower. Orion anounces the existence of their god-labelled tunnels, noting that there only appear to be eleven: the muddy water appears to stream down two gutters into the tunnels of Talos and Eldath, the storm and peace gods; two boarded panels mark the sides of Helm, the protector; a foul, rotten stench appears to ascend into the room from Chauntee, the agricultural goddess; Tyr guides the way back out; yet the tunnels of Ilmater, Sune, Azuth, Cyric, and Milil have no discernable characteristics. Arine reads a quote, presented in Typhrenian on the wall: "He would pray for it each night, but it would never come".

Unsure on what the passage might mean, the group recall the tale from Fownai, and Darcy, looking up, finds a skull hanging from the ceiling, gently singing on a dangling rope, taunting the adventurer's with a toothy grin. Arine cheerfully concludes that the large hole before them is the tunnel for their last diety: as Orion recalls: Myrkul, god of death. Fearfully curious that the room may be sacred to the gods, Darcy pulls out a worthless copper piece, and chucks the coin into the tunnel of Waukeen, the goddess of trade. Little seems to occur, before a thick stone door slams down in the entrance to the goddess' tunnel. The adventurers realise, if they crawl in, there might not be any way out.

Arine sends her light down Myrkul's tunnel. The hole appears to have the same properties as the door-sides, absorbing all light. But her lights cannot continue further, having reached the end of the hole, fifty feet or so down. With his prayers unanswered, Orion examines the room, finishing upon the wooden boards of Helm. He determines that the best course of action is to rip them off. Proceeding on his left, the paladin uses all his might, and tears the barracade with ease. As the dust settles, the trio find the head of a Gargoyle peering back at them, detached from any body. Orion asks the group if gargoyles can survive without a head... As he unearths an even uglier stone creature from the right board, and promptly lifts the decapitated statue, it appears the answer is a firm no.

Arine begins to surmise that Mortund could have been praying for death, but Orion quickly shoots down the group's brains, asking if it might be the light. Surely the light. None of the gods are gods of light. Unaware of Arine's conclusion, the paladin soon turns to the skull dangling above their heads, wondering if the group could shoot it down. Darcy rejects the notion, worried that they would have to replace it. Instead they should continue granting offerings to the gods. Orion can be one for Ilmater. Orion doesn't wish to pray, refusing to react to Darcy's toying chimes that Ilmater is everywhere and inside the paladin. Yet, without better options, Orion asks his noble friend if he could clean him up. He needs to look good for his god. Pendant ready, and kneeling before his god, Orion prays. Meanwhile, Arine casts some magic for Azuth, and Darcy begins to sing 'l'Abyssais', the song of demons, to Milil.

Nothing happens.

Arine wishes she went to the library again to copy down Tzermir's spells. As Darcy looks away, Orion throws a couple of copper pieces down the tunnels of Talos and Eldath, closing the passageways also. They appear to have no clues as to which way to go. Darcy returns to the skull, and develops an idea. He unmounts his trusty crossbow, loading an arrow attached to his thirty foot rope, and fires at the skull. He misses. Twice. On the third attempt, the warlock aims directly for the dangling target's eye, piercing through its bone. He tugs on the rope. The sound of shifting stone and metallic pistons echo through the chamber. A staircase of steps emerge in a spiral down Myrkul's passage. Arine recalls that Mortund must have prayed for death.

The brave Orion eagerly steps up to step down first, asking his comrades to throw down his mighty hammer. He slowly makes his way, step by step, on his bum, before reaching the bottom of the light-lacking hole, and finding a copper coin. Darcy retrieves his skull-pierced arrow and chucks the warhammer down whilst the paladin hides beneath the staircase. Ensuring his own safety, the warlock jams a piton into the rockedge, tying his rope. Arine and Darcy follow Orion's lead, but choose to walk down.

Afraid to walk straight into an army of Flaming Hand bandits, Arine extinguishes her lights, and the group form a shoulder-touching chain, following their dark-visioned friend. She guides her boys through the cave until she finds a cube-shaped room. A shimmering substance lines the magnificently smooth wall before her, but the wall remains dark. It may be glass. There are pathways to the groups left and right, narrated by the elf. However, fixated on the glossy wall before her, Arine places her hand upon the glass. A violent wind is heard in rhythmic beats behind the wall. A thud echoes her hand mark. The wizard takes a step back in fear. A voice calls to the group:

"What business do you have here?"

Silence. Darcy asks the voice who they are. Mortund, he responds. Arine, in shocked confidence, replies that they thought he was fictional. The wall begins to waffle philosophically. What if they are all fictional? How would they know? As Darcy remains unusually silent, Orion begins to argue for knowledge of his own existence. Mortund interjects. What is Locksmith's Bane's business? The group leave the entity with silence once more, as light begins to return to the room. Before Arine appears a familiar face, her own. Before Orion, a heroic jaw. Before Darcy, a strapping young man. To the group's right, a familiar sight from weeks prior, a guard of Tasha's tower walks in, he greets them as Wesley alongside fifteen other members of the Flaming Hand. Wesley asks Mortund if they should take the group to the vaults. With a breath, Mortund announces his enjoyment playing with the heroes, and to hold off a second longer. Attempting to speak back to the groups newfound captors, Orion is shut down by a straight-talking member of the Hand, reminding him to listen to the mirror!

Although trapped in their box of fear, surrounded by a myriad of sabre-wielding foes, Locksmith's Bane cannot help but pertrude a collective giggle at the bandit's odd request. Their behaviour is met by a scolding from Mortund himself. The mirror asks once more, unsuccessfully as usual, what the groups' business is in his cave, before growing bored off the group and allowing Wesley and his men to take them away. He orders them once more to listen to the mirror and come quietly with the group. They oblige, begrudgingly. The party follow the candle-lit bandit through a series of tunnels, poked and proded by daggers at their backs. They walk for some time before arriving in a larger open space, with a bed, a small fireplace, and desk. At the desk, and turning to greet her captive audience, Riffie is delighted to have her customers return. She welcomes the group to their new home, wishing them a pleasant time with sarcastic arrogance. Darcy, eager to have the last word, begins a snide remark towards their host. Refering to Locksmith's Bane as the murderers of Tasha Dennison, head of the Hand, under Mortund, Darcy re-educates the once-horse-merchant. Tasha killed herself, a victim of the Flaming Hand's malice, a puppet. His words are greeted with the grip of Wesley's fingers around his throat. A bruising grasp tightly cushions the noble's throat, as Wesley stares into his blank green eyes. For once, Darcy is unable to speak. Riffie smiles. The brute releases his lord, and the group are ushered to the vaults.

Along the way, they are lead through a large, open cavern, lined with tents and bandits eating their lunches or dinners, whichever feels closest. A firepit in it's origin, and a well to its side, the room has four tunnels: one to Riffie's room, two to unknown locations, and a final tunnel to the vault. The vault consists of three iron-barred cages fashioned into alcoves in the natural cavern pocket. The Bane are led into one to share in slience. Unlike cells they have shared before, there are no benches to be set alight, no chamber pots to accidentally murder with. Just the trio, with their weapons and bags swiftly stolen. As the bandits leave, a subordinate speaks to Wesley: "What do we do with the others?" His lead orders the bandit to remain silent.

On the cold cavern floor, the three take a short rest. Arine worries over the loss of the black book, Darcy plays with a coin he managed to pocket, and Orion misses his warhammer. They discuss ways to exit, with Darcy furious that he hadn't tucked his book of shadows in his corset. Arine describes her knocking spell once more. However, the group decide that they shouldn't cause any trouble until they have a viable plan and should wait to see what the Flaming Hand wish to do with them. As Orion and Arine recover in the cell, Darcy attempts to get some sleep, managing to find what little comfort there can be on rocks to meet Lillith in his dreams. In them, the boy tumbles through a cave system, his vision slowly easing out of his body, to watch himself tumble down an endless circle of tunnels, before the empty space solidifies as a rocky snake. Lillith says hello.

She tells Darcy that it looks like he might die. Darcy agrees. She informs her warlock that this would be a shame. Although she'd be happy to have him as one of her lights, she has plans for him, living. He asks for any tips, any aid. She tells him with a snide, snakey grin, to maybe just continue West. She fades to black. The nervous noble awakens to the footsteps of approaching Hand members.

Being led into the vault are three more prisoners: an angry Bune, a tearful Erith, and an ever-silent Peter. Bune cries out in profane insults to the guards as they escort her and the others into the cage beside Locksmith's Bane. Bune bounces from wall to wall. Erith slumps in the corner. Peter stands, still. Orion begins to question the scouts, asking of Gnal and Gris. Bune has slowed her pace, retreating to a far corner in furious solitude. Erith speaks up, as their still friend lingers. They were ambushed by the Hand, attacked by flying stone creatures, which... They speak in a somber whisper... picked up Gnal and dropped him over the hillside. The others fought, but were over powered. The last any of them saw of Gris before their head were bagged, she had been fighting off a Giant Vulture single handedly.

Arine continues to question the Reisuran scout, asking how they entered, as they couldn't have been sent down those awful tunnels to get here. Erith cannot answer anymore questions, they remember food and storage when they were unmasked, but little else. It is all too fresh. They have to get out. At the call for a way out, an old voice is heard calling from the third and final cage. From behind a blind spot, emerges an old man in tattered clothes with a novelty-sized lock on his waist, announcing, rather mysteriously and theatrically, his presence as "The Locksmith". Orion whispers to Darcy to not reveal their group name...

The Locksmith looks to them all and describes how they might need a little help. His eyes dart to Darcy as he reveals a Green Key, stating that it is for him. Darcy is bemused, but accepts the offering as the old man spryly slides the item under his bars and twenty feet across the room, into the waiting fingers of the noble lord. Ignoring pleas from Orion to tell them more, the Locksmith turns away, returning to his blind spot.

Refusing to slow down to comprehend this perplexing interaction, Darcy quietly inserts the green key into the cell's door. It opens with ease. Surprised, the gentleman quickly locks the cell once more. All but Bune watch in excitement, and Darcy slides the key over to Peter to check his door. He is able to unlock the scouts cell also. With some mimes from Darcy, Peter understands to relock the door, and slide the key back to Locksmith's Bane. With a means of escape. The group ultimately decide to wait in their cell. Orion hides the key within his armour, but returns the conversation to the old man across from the group. What if he's Mortund?

The idea is dismissed as the prisoner sit down, waiting for their captors to arrive, and understand what they might want from the group.

Moon Day 23 Chauntoro 1021 TE... Gold Day 5 Tyru 1157 TE...?

For hours and hours the group wait, unable to fully rest. Peter remains standing in his cell, glaring down the corridor, and looking over at Darcy. Darcy asks the silent giant whether he sees anything. Peter nods. He asks if there are guards. Peter nods. He asks how many. Peter nods... and holds up two fingers. Soon however, Peter takes a step back. Footsteps echo through the tunnels. Riffie and three men enter the vaults. She greets the Bane once more, and adds the scouts to her pleasantries. She has spoken to Mortund.

The Hand, and its governing body, wish to know the answers to the questions asked before. What do the prisoners want? What do they wish to do here? As per usual, the question is met with silence. The merchant changes her sales-pitch. She asks the group individually what they each want in life, what their ambitions might be. Arine says she doesn't know, fearful of the bandits and their existential questions. Riffie understands their worries, isn't everyone confused by what they want? But they are all from The Kingdom of Thorn, no? And they are all champions of The Tournament of the Silver Knight, is that not correct? Surely, they are fighting in the coming battle for Pontoporea?

Darcy announces that the group lack any loyalty to either side. Orion asks why Riffie thinks they are the champions. She recalls their images plastered around the city, and Darcy curses the art merchant once more. The warlock spokesman declares that the group wish to end the war, that is all. They are not on either side of this fight. Riffie takes a step closer to the cells. It appears the groups wishes oppose those of the hand...

But all is fine. Locksmith's Bane may still live. Compromises are key to business deals, and Mortund is first and foremost a business man. What do the group wish to gain from such an agreement. The group are confused by the long and labourious business meeting, and cannot find an answer to what they want, other than repeating what they had stated earlier. Darcy answers that they just want the war to end. Riffie states that this cannot be a part of the agreement, she's afraid, but she can offer the group's lives, should they wish to sign a document to declare that they will not interfere in the battle and go about their way. The group hesitate in their response, not wishing to put themselves in any further danger.

Peter stands at his iron bars, staring down the men of the Hand. Riffie gestures to the brute, calling for her guards to seize him. The three guards pull peter towards them, one on each wrist, another by his ragged attire. Riffie takes one of her two axes from her back, and dawdles to her captive. Darcy calls in agreement to sign the documents, and the other two, fearful of Peter's life, agree. Riffie is delighted, her tone and demeanour shifts to a calm shrug. Yet, in an eerily tranquil manner, she proclaims, "Unfortunately, we seem to have run out of ink. Therefore, we might have to find something else to write with."

With one single slice, she removes Peter's left hand.

The bulky combatant falls to the ground, still silent, refusing to scream, nor to cry, but still diseased with a face of agony. Riffie thanks the group for their co-operation. It was a pleasure doing business with them. The Hand, taking Peter's, leave the vault. Orion quickly rushes to the side of his cage, calling out to Peter to extend his arm out to him. His bleeding stump barely reaches the distance, but Orion is able to heal his wound, closing up the brute's skin. Peter falls back, still in pain, but with keeping his blood.

In the tension of the moment, Darcy encourages his fellow companions to discuss what they truly want. They have spent nearly a month on this quest and are no closer to opening the book. Do they even want to? Do they want to fight for Thorn anyway? Orion deflates his heroic chest. He does not wish to fight for a country he does not even belong to. His goal in life, really, is to spread the word of Ilmater, to find a place to settle down and set up a monastery to his god.

"I'd like to help other people. But endurance isn't about throwing your life away," he states with candour.

"I wanted to learn stuff first hand, I guess" claims Arine, wishing she could be tightly curled up in her little library once more. Orion returns the question to Darcy, asking about his brother in the way of the war. If they are to fight, it would be for him. But Darcy gets mad. This war hits too deep. It is a game of those in power. The lord reveals his people's dirty truth: "People in power want more power." Nothing more.

Locksmith's Bane recall their mission. They are here for the Dark Stone. The stone gained whatever power it has from Tzermir after he touched it. It must be linked to their further quest. Arine recounts Bethelda and the book, that it could stop wars and diseases. However, as the group discuss their goals, their words fall silent, their jaws clench. Bune interupts the heroes:

"Shut the fuck up. People have died. We came here to help you get this fucking stone, and now Gnal is dead and you all talk about what you want to do with your lives?"

Her speech is short, but poignant. The vault's cold walls, for the first time, echo no sounds. The group's heads are screaming in collective sorrow. Bune returns to her corner. After an appropriate silence, Orion returns to their plan. "So, the war." Darcy returns to the groups unwillingness to fight in the coming battle. "So much for herodom", mutters the defeated paladin. "Think of all the people we left in Pontoporea." His eyes dart to Darcy, "Sandra?"

"My life was better when I had nobody in it" the cursed boy responds. Arine remains typically quiet, watching her boys in despair. "It's not the first time I've lost everything," Orion says, "I didn't have much in the first place. But I don't think I could face Ilmater again." Darcy doesn't like the contract. Arine wonders if the blood-signing is some kind of ritual, a binding contract. Orion agrees. But Darcy doesn't believe so. It's a trick of intimidation. Like all contracts.

Orion makes a plan. There is nothing but risk right now. They will wait for the Hand to return with contracts. Their doors will be unlocked. They will be ready for a surpise attack. They will escape. Darcy will blast his way out, Arine has firebolts always at her disposal. Orion has his hands. The group agree, and unlock their door, sliding the key to Erith to do the same. Darcy asks if the group should have a safe-word to declare, ready to strike. 'Kinky', 'Were-rat', and 'Cramp' are suggested. But the group decide on 'crap'.

Locksmith's Bane wait for their captor's return. An hour passes, then another. Eventually, two bandits return, one a bulking mass of man, the other a slender bandit, with a crooked smile and brow. Darcy and Arine hang out at the back of the cage, as Orion waits at the front for their document. The small bandit holds out a contract through the bars, which Orion snatches. The contract announces that should the adventurers break their word, the Hand will slaughter them. The smiling foe hands the paladin a quill and pot of ink, as his larger friend jokes in a bellowing voice, surprised if these "barbarians" can read.

Orion shows the document back to the small bandit, asking him if he could read this part for him. The bandit does so incorrectly, unable to pronounce the word "company". Orion announces that the contract is a load of crap.

The paladin pushes open the door. The small bandit goes flying into the wall. The knight rushes to his larger foe, imbuing his punch with divine magic, and burning the bandits face with blinding light. The warlock exits the chamber and, with a single hand, casts an agonising blast on his small foe. The wizard, with surprising dexterity, manages to cast two bolts of fire at the smaller guard, singeing the wall with one and his crooked brow with another. From his fingertips, a blue hand extends further from the warlock's palm, and into the contracter's throat. The blast is enough to lift the body off the ground, and into the low ceilings. His corpse collapses to the floor.

Erith rushes out of her cage, running with fury at the large survivor. He dips out of the way and slices them with his curved dagger. Orion hits the bandit in the shoulder, getting his attention. Arine continues to fire and miss fire bolts. One misses the target completely, setting Erith's trousers aflame. Darcy readies another blast, but purposely misses so as not to strike Orion also. The paladin gets face to face with the hulking bandit. Imbuing Ilmater's unforgiving light once more upon his mighty gauntlet, Orion, in one strike, dents the guard's face. Hyped on adrenaline, he continues to beat the corpse's head into a bloodied heap of skull and flesh.

Guards are heard outside vault. Orion pauses to reflect on his first, non-accidental, human kill. His hands a bloodied symbol of his enduring deity. Darcy takes the small bandit's blade, and checks on the Locksmith's cage, unsurprised to find no-one within. Arine, in a brave stance, enters the center of the vault. As three guards enter the vicinity, she casts a fire bolt at the foes. She gloriously misses. Locksmith's Bane continue their assualt on their opposing trio. As Darcy and Orion do healthy blows, Arine manages to get a couple of bolts on a target. But Erith is struck again. They fight back, knocking a Hand-member to his knees, and Bune arrives from her cage, leaping to bandit's face, and smashing it repeatedly agains the rock.

Orion takes the larger bandit's blade, and strikes another in the gut, dragging up the dagger for further pain. Bune joins him. Leaping onto the bandit's shoulders and smashing his head also. Arine dispatches the final foe with a well-timed fire bolt to the face. Bloodied, but victorious, Darcy leads his fellow fighters out of the vaults. Erith helps Peter to his feet.

In the Hand's camp, the Bane and Scouts find panicking bandits, packing up their food, and rushing to their tents. Bune rushes out into the camp to slaughter as many men in her way. Out of the group's sight, they head towards the storage cavern on Erith's command. However, their path is blocked by seven Hand members. Darcy, tired of this bullshit, fires an agonising blast at the central bandit, killing the man instantly. Arine simultaneously does what she does best. The tents go up in flames behind Locksmith's Bane. "Get out!" cries the man in the blue mist. Intimidated by the sight of a one-hit-killing warlock, with the power to spontaneously set fire to whatever he wishes, the remaining six bandits run for lives and equipment in the tents.

Darcy leads the charge out of the burning camp, and into the storage cavern. Orion immediately barricades the entrance, as the other rush over crates to an exiting tunnel. After the groups collect their weapons and bags, they follow the trail for several, adrenaline-fueled minutes, to a hidden, heath-covered exit in Tyr's Pass. The five survivors leave to the dim light of either dusk or dawn, and the fresh air of the unpolluted wilds. As smoke begins to billow from the exit, Erith asks if anyone had seen Bune anywhere? They hadn't. She was still inside. The group debate on whether or not to go back. That she had decided to leave the group. It was her decision.

Erith's pleas appear to go unanswered. But Peter stands, clutching his empty wrist, and opens the door once more. Erith tries to follow the brute, but he pushes them away, shooing her away in silence. He looks the Bane in their eyes, and turns to enter the burning tunnel. Orion and Arine agree that they need to go back, Peter and Bune are unarmed, and won't survive on their own. Erith joins them. Darcy, however, remains outside as the three enter.

Inside the storage cavern, Orion, Arine, and Erith find their way blocked by fallen crates. Some stock seemd to have exploded in the heat and caused the rest to pile up before them. As they each test their strength to move the barricade, clean, unworked hands join the fray. "If I die, I will haunt you" Darcy ensures Orion. The four are able to lift the crates out of their way, and enter the burning bandit camp. Smoke fills the space. Bune and Peter are nowhere to be seen. Amongst the burning rubble and corpses, Riffie emerges from the smoke to greet Locksmith's Bane, her axes drawn. The session ends there.