Of Rats and Flumphs

Lord Rosen in his chambers at Silverhall

Of Rats and Flumphs is the tenth session of Campaign 1. In the session, Arine of Riveryew, Lord Darcy Hall, and Orion Brightward compete in the second round of The Tournament of the Silver Knight and are finally called upon by Lord Rosen.

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

## Plot

Feast Day 17 Chauntoro 1021 TE

As the heroes complete their evening's training, they are rewarded with thunderous applause by their riverside crowd. With her elven eyes, Arine picks out a balding gentleman making what appear to be notes on Locksmith's Bane, before running away. Cygnus gives a polite curtsy to the crowd as Darcy rips his swan helmet from atop his head, displaying it to the people of Pontoporea. A young boy comes forward, placing two silver pieces within the helmet, and thanking Darcy.

The crowd soon disperses and the four decide to return to The Windy Way (Inn) for dinner and rest. On the way, Cygnus and Orion have a little sing about the the tavern's name. As they enter the full bar with delightful music, Darcy has a quick look around, in search of Sandra. Instead, he notices the Harry, the beautiful bard, on the stage playing with a drunken woman, Helena and Céline by the front, and Esrafin making his way upstairs. Cygnus and Orion head to the bar and speak with Wolandar about getting some soup. She informs them that the kitchen is closed for the night.

Meanwhile, Harry decides to play an old tune. As he begins the chord progression, Darcy spots Céline rushing away from the crowd in pain. Harry changes the song in reaction, but Céline rushes to the corner of the room anyway. Darcy follows, spotted by Helena. She gives him a small smile of recognition and Céline greets him with joy, before they both leave upstairs. The paladins decide to retire and enjoy themselves some rations - conversing on the subject of meat sandwiches. Orion sees Helena upstairs, but neither acknowledge the other.

Downstairs, Darcy remains in the crowd, and Arine spots him across the stage. A teenage girl offers her hand to Darcy to dance, and he begrudgingly accepts, having some difficulty getting used to the working-class shanty music, but ultimately finding his feet. As the song slows down, the noble approaches Arine, offering his own hand and pulling her into the center of the dance. However, Arine trips over her own feet, landing flat on her face. As Darcy pulls the elf back to her feet, they are pushed together by the dancing crowd.

Adjusting herself, Arine grasps Darcy's waist and leads him back into the dance, spinning him perfectly in time. Soon the dancing crowd dies down before they all watch the pair, clapping their hands and tapping their feet. In another slow section, Arine plays with her long, frilly dress with confidence, as a member calls out "Locksmith's Bane" once more. As the dance comes to an end, Arine and Darcy are met with praise, and Harry steps down to greet his Walnutton friends. The bard tells them that he will remain at the Windy Way tomorrow night but will be heading across the bridge the next evening to play there. He is delighted to hear of their success in the tournament, but the duo decide to head back to bed to get a good night's sleep.

Upstairs, Orion and Cygnus enjoy a riveting conversation about Ilmater, bonding over their shared deity, before the other Banes enter the room. Orion shares his paladin 'Oath of the Open Sea' and learns of Cygnus' 'Oath of Devotion'. Cygnus calls it a night. Each of the three bathe (behind a screen) and finish off their portions of rations before heading to sleep.

Moon Day 18 Chauntoro 1021 TE

The next morning, as Arine examines her spellbook, Darcy awakens. She gives him a loving smile and a pleasant "Good Morning!" but is met with a simple grunt, as the warlock informs her that he will meet the others at the amphitheatre. Darcy quickly puts on his clothes and heads out. Outside, Darcy makes his way across the townsquare to a post stall. He asks them if he could send a messenger with their service, but is directed to visit a specialist messenging service in The Castle's Keep. Frustrated with this answer, the lord wanders down to the district. On his way, he spots a small, barely-open carpenters. Outside is a large dragon-born shop-keeper, who he barges past to find a gift. The carpenter suggests a lovely, hand-carved dragon box, and Darcy quickly accepts, heading back on his quest to find a messenger. Passing the heavily guarded district's gates, Darcy makes it to the messenger's station, meeting Rod. Rod is rather flamboyant and introduces Maude, the messenger. Darcy states his wish to send a letter to Lord Jimothy Strayth in Xan, to which Maude accepts, grabbing the note with a passion. The two agree that it would take six days to carry out this service, and the fee would be one gold piece per day. Darcy is annoyed. He states that it should really only take them four days, but ends his fight, accepting their six day offer.

Back in the Windy Way, the remaining members of Locksmith's Bane start their day and wave goodbye to Esrafin before heading to The Amphitheatre of Pontoporea. Outside the stadium, Darcy spots the balding man from the previous night, surrounded by an intrigued audience. He is selling the image of each tournament contestant. Seeing Darcy, the artist announces the competitor's presence, offering him copies of each member of Locksmith's Bane, and promoting his sketches. Darcy is mad, but heads back to the ampitheatre. As he is about to enter, the other three arrive. Darcy shows them the drawings. Orion is perplexed at why his has a mustache and horns. Darcy smirks, putting away his quill.

The warlock attempts to convince the party to intimidate the artist, exclaiming to Orion that "he's making money on your back!" In response, a simple "yes" is uttered by the Paladin, fine with an artist making some money from his hard work. Cygnus joins his sentiment. The knight suggests to the trio to head inside and forget this trouble, as he is ready to "kick some derriere". With that, Locksmith's Bane enter.

For the next three hours, the group wait in room 14. During this time, Orion and Cygnus continue to chat. Cygnus wishes to discuss Ilmater once again, but Orion would prefer to talk about his new-found love of knitting. Cygnus professes that speaking about Ilmater before a battle is an honourable thing for a paladin of the enduring god, to which Orion disagrees, disappointing the duo. Concurrently, Arine and Darcy discuss the art of music, much to Arine's joy. She discuss her musical father, who taught her to play the lute, and, with a push, she sings in front of the group, silencing the paladins. In the moments of silence, Arine starts to speak about the previous tournament puzzles she had researched, but is quickly outspoken by Orion and Darcy's conversation about the creatures they have fought. Orion admits that he has a fear of spiders, and that although he's quite big, some of the one's he's seen have been quite big, and that is terrifying.

As their conversations end, the room's gates begin to open and the competitors ready themselves. The crowd cheers heavily as Soregn announces the fight between the two fastest competitors of round one. Competing with Locksmith's Bane this round are The Eagles, made up of Hennon Ashwood, the halfling sorcerer, Onze Brymont, the yellow-clad wizard, and Kylic Brewster, the bagpiped bard from the guildhall baths. Before the contestants are three boxes, with three tentacled creatures above them. Soregn then explains the rules of the second round:

In the arena are three boxes, each filled with a clear liquid. One is water, one is acid, and the final one is a vacuum which will suck them up into the box. The Archmage Grennis has made them all appear to be liquid. Soregn states in a stern voice that Contestants are not allowed to mess with the contents of the boxes. Upon each box is a flumph with a small magical device fitted upon their heads. Usually, the creatures are able to communicate via telepathy, however these ones have been restricted. The flumphs know the contents of each box. How they will be able to communicate this with the contestant is up to them to figure out. The teams have 15 minutes to communicate with the flumphs before standing under a box. After the boxes open and they are either showered in water, in acid, or are trapped in a box. The teams shall then commence their fight. Whoever wins shall go through to the final round.

As the round begins, Hennon rushes to the boxes. Each of the yellow flumphs rotate to face the halfling and begin to turn greens of various vibrancies. Onze soon follows, and is telepathically connected with one of the creatures. Orion and Cygnus team up, running to the sorcerer and wizard, blocking their sight of the central flumph, as Kylic runs up to the final Flumph, playing his bagpipes. The final flumph turns red in the proximity of the bagpipes, whereas the other two face the music with a delightful pink hue. Arine rushes up to the boxes with the rhythm of Kylic's tune, alongside Darcy. The wizard casts detect magic to see if the water-filled box has been spared the magic of the other two. Unfortunately, it seems the Archmage has thought of this spell and each of the boxes shines with the bright blue hue of conjuration magic. Darcy sends a message to the red flumph, asking it to wave a tentacle if it is above the box with water. The flumph does not respond, messing with its chains and floating away from the sound of bagpipes.

To end the poor creature's suffering Orion fills the bagpipes of Kylic with water. As the pipes fill, the water bursts out, just missing the halfling beside them. Kylic is squirted in the mouth, coughing up a lung-full of water, and the fine-stitched sack explodes in the arena. The crowd laugh and cheer for Orion once more and Cygnus casts a protective spell on his paladin companion.

Hennon blinds a flumph with a beam of light and Onze freezes one with its rays each glow a vibrant red. In response to the cruelty, Orion shields the blinded flumph, asking Hennon to end his torture, he silently walks away. Kylic remains on the floor in tears, crying over his bagpipes, and Hennon tells him to pull himself together. Darcy and Arine soon realise that the flumphs change colour with their emotions and can communicate in this way. They each ask the flumphs to think of a sad moment in their lives if they sit upon water, bonding with them telepathically first with the flumphs' consent. Darcy asks the flumphs with kindness, calling them 'little things' and the like. The flumphs respond with kindness of their own and the left-most flumph changes to blue, seemingly sad.

Messaging his paladin companions, Darcy makes a deal with Arine to confuse the Eagles. The team spend the remaining ten minutes making the flumphs change fantastic colours. However, this is seemingly unnecessary, as the flumphs refuse to turn any colour than red when communicating with the opposing team. Orion brings down heavy rain within a thirty-foot diameter and Arine shrouds the arena in fog. All is wet.

Once the fifteen minutes are up, Soregn orders the contestants to return to their sides of the arena. Each contestant is met with a city guard who blindfolds them. The gnome guard refuses to do Orion and switches to the more managable Arine instead. Locksmith's Bane each choose to stand under the left-most box. The crowd begin to countdown. The boxes open. A scream of pain is heard beside the adventurers. Removing their blindfolds, the adventurers remain drenched. Hennon is likewise, but in painful acid one box over. In the far box, Onze and Kylic are trapped.

As the final fight begins, Hennon launches a fire bolt at Cygnus, scorching the knight's neck. In response, Orion wanders over kicking the sorcerer in his knee-cap. Hennon falls to the ground, in pain. Orion calls for his surrender, to which Hennon looks over to his trapped companions, back to Locksmiths Bane, and waves his hands in defeat. With that, Soregn declares Locksmith's Bane as the victors of this second round, ready for their final confrontations tomorrow morning.

Leaving the stadium, the adventurers are greeted with heroic applause by members of the audience outside, being controlled by the city guard. The Mayor of Pontoporea approaches the team, congratulating them. He asks for Orion to speak with him privately. Arine and Darcy listen in. Mayor Humble asks Orion if Jimothy has already leftfor Xan, to which Orion says yes, technically not lying. The mayor then informs the paladin that Lord Rosen has read Lord Strayth's letter, and is keen to talk. If Jimothy is unavailable, he wishes to speak with his companions. Offering the other members of the group the opportunity to join in the conversation, they all eagerly agree.

The mayor leads Locksmith's Bane to his carriage, and the group remain silent on the way to Silverhall Castle. Humble sweats as the carriage rolls through the gates of the district, where the group witness the audacious majesty of the castle's three spires, the Silver Knight's luxurious mansion, the beautiful Silverhall gardens, and the area's own bank and library. Heading under an archway into the castle, the group are escorted out, down many glorious passageways and up incredible staircases. As Darcy strolls through as if at home, Orion walks in awe, and Arine steps into one of her many picture-books. They make their way up the central castle spire and to the guarded doorway of Lord Rosen's chambers.

The guard, under the mayor's orders, opens the doorway. Two large, crossing, metal swords move from eachother, as if by magic, and within lies a darkness, shielded by a purple hue. Humble states that as Lord Rosen wished to speak with Strayth and his associates in private, he mustn't go any further. Cygnus enters first, ready to speak with the Lord. He is consumed by the darkness, unable to be seen by the others. Establishing a marching order, the remaining trio walk through the veil. They all feel a slight tingle within them.

In the dimly lit chambers, the four walk past numerous bookshelves and doors to areas such as the Lord's bedroom, but they continue on until they find a silhouetted figure at the end of the corridor, illuminated by candlelight, siting in a wheel-chair contraption: Lord Rosen. The coughing gentleman greets the group. He questions the legitimacy of the war. Darcy pushes Cygnus to speak forward and the Knight nervously does so. The Lord is upset by the news of a war on his city. He understands the secrecy of King Holias. If The Kingdom of Thorn can spy on The Larsinian Empire, then it stands to reason that they could do the same to this country. The Lord assumes that Lord Strayth will be sending his own army, as he knows of the attack, but it might not be enough. Mayor Humble has been informed of the war and is already planning for the attack. The city will discover after the tournament. Rosen asks favours of Locksmith's Bane:

First, the Lord speaks of The Flaming Hand. He has heard of them operating in Wolbeth, specifically Ferripont. He tasks the adventurers with tracking them down there. Secondly, as the people's champions, they are ordered to remain within the tournament. After the theft of The Dark Stone in Darkstone by the flaming hand, Lord Rosen does not trust the Dennison family, nor Sir Edwin, and therefore wishes there to be a new Silver Knight of Pontoporea. Furthermore, he expects Locksmith's Bane inspire the people into battle. Sir Cygnus, who has bragged of his respectful connection with the King, is asked to head to the surounding towns and villages, amassing an army of followers to join in the battle. He is asked to leave the tournament. At this final point, Orion speaks for the team, stating that they will have to think about joining the battle. To this, Lord Rosen lets out, in a booming voice: "YOU SHALL FIGHT!" He deflates back into his seat, apologising.

During his monologue, Lord Rosen coughs and splutters heavily, before having minor convulsions and odd squeaking ticks. At this point in the conversation, the Lord's convulsions worsen as he yells for them to get out and that the Mayor will inform them of what will happen after the tournament. With that, Locksmith's Bane rush out of the chambers, hearing a series of faint squeaks intensify as they reach the end of the corridor. Just as the four pass the purple border, a large silver rat, with the big brown eyes of Lord Rosen smashes against the magical protective boundary with force and anger. The guard shuts the doors and the swords cross once more.

Mayor Humble assumes that they know of Lord Rosen's infliction and asks that they keep it quiet. After he informs the group that they may take his carriage back to the Windy Way, Darcy asks if they may stay in upgraded quarters, perhaps in Silverhall before the battle. His request is declined, as the group would no longer be seen as the people's champions were they to communte from Silverhall tomorrow morning. With a snide comment of the Mayor's 'Humble' name, Orion and the group are asked to leave.

In their carriage ride home, Locksmith's Bane begin a discussion of war. Darcy is particularly fearful of the war, agreeing with Cygnus as he blames himself for getting the group caught up in his mess. He also worries for Hunter, who he had sent a message to in the previous days to join them after the group described their encounter with Gargoyles. He informs the group that he will return to the mayor and speak with him about remaining in the tournament, and hedaing off soon after, so that he can be the one to fight for the title of Silver Knight in place of the reluctant trio. The three agree. The knight also asks the group of the importance of their own quest.

Arine, Orion, and Darcy recall their mission given to them by Bethelda all those days ago to find Tzermir's corpse and open his Tome. Remembering of the book's powers to end wars and diseases, Arine jokes that if they complete their quest in the next twelve days then they could save the city from the coming war. Orion states that they are all so inexperienced with war, they cannot fight in it. Darcy seconds his companion, worried and wishing to go home. He asks Cygnus of the Larsinian Empire and whether he knows if nobles will be targeted should Pontoporea and the Kingdom Thorn, to which Cygnus informs him that this would be likely. Darcy changes his tune, believing that the group really should try to stop the Empire. Arine rapidly spews all of the information from her memory of the Larsinian Empire, one that has been building for the past few decades as the true succesors of The Typhrenian Empire.The Empire favours order over all else and have taken control of numerous cities throughout the east coast of Typhrenia. They would surely wish to conquer all former territories of the ancient Typhrenians, including the Thorn-ruled region of Partitia. Therefore, a battle against Pontoporea would be a grave thing.

Cygnus questions the location of the Tzermir's corpse, if he is in Tyrnia, then he could only be in Wolbeth across the bridge, they do not know. Arine then describes every detail that she knows of Tzermir's final quest. Although it has been lost to general knowledge by the thousand years since it's occurence, Fownai had informed her that she might be able to find more on the subject in the Riverstream Library of its namesake university in Upper Porea. Leaving the carriage at the Windy Way, Orion declares that the group should spend some time to think on the matter. Darcy disagrees. Everything on this quest so far that the group has not wished to do have made them learn something new, perhaps for the importance of their own quest. The session ends there.