Starfall Session 3: Secret Tunnels

***See Starfall for a list of session summaries.***

Nievan descends the stairs to find Aisling, Jag, Watzi, and a floating Firethaera attempting to get as far away from the hole as possible. They explain the situation and Nievan tells them they shouldn't explore the tunnels now, and they should all go talk to the dean. Aisling drags Firethaera behind and gets distracted for a moment when he realizes he was dragging Firethaera's face against the ceiling. When he turns back to his friends, they are gone, having taken Nievan down labyrinthine corridors. Aisling recommends that, when you get separated from somebody, you should just go to the last place you saw them, so he takes Firethaera back down to the basement.

When they get to the basement, they hear scrambling and chittering noises coming from the tunnel below the room. They look down into the hole and discover a frantic raccoon scrabbling at the walls. Aisling casts a spell that allows him to communicate with the raccoon in order to help it stay calm. Aisling changes shape, taking the form of a giant spider to descend the walls and fetch out the little creature. When he climbs back out, he regains his original form, and so does the raccoon, revealing himself to be Tarcan. Tarcan explains that, while exploring the Hemrillick estate, he fell into a trap door in the basement which left him down in the tunnels, eventually leading all the way to the tunnels under the Tower Academy.

The trio decides to explore the tunnels. Though Tarcan and Aisling could take the form of animals to go up and down as they please, Firethaera would not be able to descend safely, as her levitation wears off. Being that they are in a storage room, the trio searches behind the four doors in the basement looking for some way to lower themselves down. They find grates in each room and, when Tarcan casts a spell that allows him to detect magic, he senses necromancy below the grate in a room filled to the brim with coal.

When Firethaera hears about the necromancy, she frantically attempts to rip the grate out of the floor. When steel beams prevent her from doing so, she grabs a torch off the wall and begins walking towards the coal room. Aisling and Tarcan stop her, advising that it is irresponsible and dangerous to light an entire room on fire in the basement of an academy. Firethaera acknowledges this and apologizes for her rash behavior.

The trio eventually finds a ladder that allows them to descend into the tunnels below. They could turn left and return the way Tarcan came, heading back to the Hemrillick estate, or they could turn right and descend down some stairs, even lower in this tunnel system. They decide to go left rather than going lower. They explore back that way and, when they find unused furniture and historical depictions they don't recognize, Tarcan's frustration gets the better of him and he flips a couch. Aisling offers that they could leave, but Tarcan claims to be satisfied now.

Deciding they could explore more this way later, the trio turn around and return to the stairs. As they're about to descend the stairs, they see two busts of a human man and a tiefling woman. Firethaera theorizes that these may be the saints of the original church of Sunvale. Behind the busts, on the wall above the stairs, is a painting that appears to be deliberately ripped. The pieces of canvas that have folded over seem to have writing on the back. Aisling places his hands on the painting and casts a spell that mends the canvas, restoring the image depicted: a dark land scape with bright stars falling from the sky. Aisling removes the painting from the wall and flips it over to read the words on its back, seeing the following poem:

> "The stars are greedy
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> And doth descend so speedy
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> Their whispers are damning
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> To fall for their planning
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> The promises worth a ponder
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> And thus did Wander
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> Wander off."
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>

Aisling removes the canvas from its frame and rolls it up to add to his pack. Firethaera suggests that the stars depicted might be the Ancients, mysterious beings that the saints had to fight off in the past. Aisling seems alarmed and perplexed at the idea that the thing that attacked him might be one of these Ancients, but he doesn't let that stop him from continuing to explore as the trio descend the stairs.

At the bottom, they find a room at the bottom piled high with detritus. There are paintings, furniture, carpets - all manner of decorative items shoved against the back wall of this large room. Pipes protrude from the ceiling leading all the way to the back wall, where they terminate hidden by the junk in the room. Firethaera again seems particularly motivated to see where this goes, attempting to goad Aisling and Tarcan to help her remove enough garbage to reach the back wall by saying things like "You're just going to half-ass explore?"

Tarcan responds, "Tell me why the juice is worth the squeeze here." With no adequate response, Firethaera agrees to follow the druids back up the stairs rather than spending hours digging. Before they leave, Tarcan notices a painting that reminds him of his home, which he takes with him, and Aisling pries two golden name plates off of paintings for the greedy members of their party upstairs.

When they start ascending the stairs, they hear scraping, thumping footsteps descending.

The session ends.