Fire That Never Goes Out

*Hardy takes his first steps towards creating his very own company town. By managing to convince our first group of adventurers to break the economy of Topaz Bay, steal live stock, play with its droppings??? And then march in to an active volcano. All in a days work for this crafty kitty.*

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## Fire That Never Goes Out

###### ***Locations:***

Topaz Bay (Reality), Lightheart Tavern (Topaz Bay), General Store (Topaz Bay), Silvana's Apothecary (Topaz Bay), Stables (Topaz Bay), Moorfold (Reality), Hardy Town (Eternity)

###### ***Notable Moments:***

The beginnings of Hardy Credits, Scamming the kid in the General Store, Stealing the Horses

###### *Episode Synopsis:*

Four folks converge in Topaz Bay at the Lightheart Tavern, responding to a call for adventurers. The tavern is empty except for Hardy the Black Cat and Denis the Orc bartender (whose real name is Dumak, but Hardy can't be bothered)...and Hardy launches into his request for the newly-formed team to travel to Moorfold to collect special coal to ignite the forges in Eternity. Hardy says the coal is magical...you must mine it, it will be on fire, but then you can pick it up with your hands and it will not burn you. A discussion of payment begins, when Hardy brings up a new and upcoming currency called Hardy Credits. All of the adventurers are skeptical, but intrigued and agree to go. Hardy suggests getting horses for the journey from Agaron, who supposedly owes Hardy money. When pushed for further details, Hardy has little to offer, and suggests any further questions can be asked of Agaron if and when they see him, making off with the horses. Given the time constraints and the Ash Rain storms of Moorfold, they have few options but to go for the horses.

To outfit themselves safely, Eve heads to the Apothecary to find ways to treat burns, Elora searches for umbrellas to cover the people and horses with Rei's and Psyian's help. Eve tries to pay in Hardy's Credits but is unsuccessful...this time. After getting materials to heal burns, she heads inside the General Store to rejoin the group. In the General Store, the trio are faced with a disorganized store managed by a distracted teenager. Elora immediately pushes the idea of Hardy Credits to the teen as Rei starts her five finger discount; Psyian is distracted by a suspended safe well above his head. As Rei is not the best at pilfering, the tarp she tries to steal makes too much noise...but it gives them another chance to push the Hardy Credits. All ganging up on the poor kid, they convince him to take Hardy Credits instead of gold. Rei reaches up and snags the safe that held Psyian's attention, they both realize it holds something magical, and Rei stashes it in her bag. The gang completely fleeces the poor kid with Hardy Credits and heads off to the stables.

Psyian, always curious, immediately starts to inspect the horse manure just outside the stable...which gets the attention of Agaron, the stable owner. Psyian is impressed with the quality of the manure, but Agaron is not impressed with Psyian. While Agaron starts to get heated, the three ladies, already inside, gather four horses and get ready to leave through the only door...where Agaron and Psyian are having their "discussion." Rei tries to pick up Psyian, but only manages a quick grab and lift...not getting him seated on the extra horse that Eve is leading. In desperation, Eve grabs Psyian's other hand, and Rei and Eve carry him between their horses in their attempt to get away. Psyian, always, polite, yells back to Agaron that "Oh yes...The Talking Cat Man says hello!" The crew continues on their way to Moorfold, where darkness soon overwhelms the light.

As the heat increases, they approach a volcano carefully. Psyian creates an ice shard to cool himself down, everyone else is on the look out for potential attackers. Psyian notices smoke from a spot on the ground, which Eve investigates...and flushes an entire group of creatures that starts attacking. Picture a lump of coal with small hands and feet, with beady eyes and toothy mouths. They are the definition of ankle biters. Eve blinds one but gets bitten, which results in a burn, and it doesn't let go. Elora moves in with ice shards to make it release Eve, and she is successful. Another monster spits fire at Rei, but she pats out the flames quickly and slashes back with her dagger. Psyian fires ice shards at two creatures: the first one, not yet recovered from Elora's attack, freezes instantly. The second one, damaged from Rei's attack, "pops," dies, and remains on fire. Eve turns her attention on the one she blinded, whacks it with her staff, and it, too "pops," dies, and remains on fire. Elora strikes a remaining creature with arcane projectile, and deals damage. The creatures are taking the attacks personally, and one attacks Rei's ankle, burning her badly. She reaches down, slashes again... and "pop,” it dies. There is only one creature remaining. Psyain shoots an arcane projectile, but only serves to anger it. Eve heals Rei's ankle enough to allow her to continue, and Elora fires ice shards to finish off the last remaining creature. The crew is realizing these creatures may be the magic coal that Hardy was talking about...meaning the mining equipment is entirely useless. Psyian's scientific mind starts churning, realizing the amount of study that will be necessary to fully understand them. What to call the people following Psyian in his endeavors to do that? Perhaps...Psyian-tists? As they try to figure out how to safely carry the magical coal back to Hardy in Lightheart Tavern, they see ash and fire start to be pulled from a nearby volcano into the air above them, whipping itself into an Ash Storm. They race ahead of the Ash Storm, which is spitting out balls of fire...striking the ground, which would have been deadly had they remained.

Arriving back at Lightheart Tavern, Rei is not pleased with the obvious holes in Hardy's story. Eve asks for payment, which Hardy offers in Hardy Credits, but before she can protest, Hardy pulls out an amulet, pats it twice, which instantly transports them to an overgrown but empty town...one that looks remarkably like Topaz Bay...but not. Hardy says, "OK, you can stay here, get to work, ok there are lots of things to do around here." Everyone is caught completely off guard, as this detour was not expected. Rei asks what to do with the magical coal, to which Hardy says put it in the forge and do forge-y things...he can't, as he doesn't have thumbs. This crew is the first of hopefully many crews to come to Eternity and help Hardy set up this outpost. Elora is excited to get started, Rei and Eve agree, and Psyian is excited to set up a wise and learned Council.