Episode 209 - Heartstopper

## Synopsis

The Gamblers heard a door open the direction they had been pointed in. Integrity told them to hide against the walls, and prepared an illusory spell to prevent whoever was coming from seeing them. They waited for a moment, until they heard the flapping noise of wings approaching. Something cast a green light on the left wall, while the right wall was bathed in a red glow. The flapping stopped, giving way to the hurried pattering of feet and cries of distress as the impish creature from the hall found the dead body of the chimera. Integrity watched as tears fell from its face as the imp held the mane on the lion’s head. A small silver lamp, the source of the light, clattered against the ground.

Serinepth quietly passed her *Potion of Superior Healing* to Mira, who had been badly injured in the fight. Integrity realised she was still disguised as one of the waiters, so moved into view of the imp. It jumped back, then saw her uniform and asked what had happened. She apologised, saying it had happened too fast. Mira, also still disguised, stepped out and said the culprits had gone down one of the other tunnels. The imp seemed to buy their story, and asked them to step into the light of the lantern before something else came. Mira and Integrity complied, and the imp turned to face down the hallway that Mira had pointed out, which just so happened to be where Bou was hiding. As the light shone further down the tunnel, the silhouette of his head with crooked horns caused the imp to back up and demand he show himself. It turned to the two students and said they should try to fight him.

Mira tried to persuade the imp to leave and tell its boss. It refused, saying they would kill them if they knew. Instead they opted to retreat for now. Bou jumped out from his hiding spot and yelled *“Ooga Booga!”*. The imp dropped the lantern in fear and flew away as fast as it could. As soon as the lantern hit the floor, it stopped emitting it’s multicoloured light. Mira *Messaged* Serinepth, telling her to grab the lantern, then ran after the imp, followed by Integrity. They ran until they came across a door in the wall, which the imp wrenched open to reveal a small room with blue lighting. They ran inside, and the imp slammed the door closed. Also in the room were six other imps, three made of magma, three made of smoke. The imp they had followed assured them that the light in the room would protect them, then asked why they were down in the tunnels.

Mira told them that something had gone wrong at the Chock Block table, and they had been sent into the tunnels to get something. The imp asked what had happened to their lanterns, saying it was almost like they had been sabotaged. Integrity quickly agreed, saying they hadn’t been given any, and that the House must have wanted them dead. It then asked what the creature they had encountered was, and Integrity said that she had heard it called the Boublage. The imp sat on a stool to collect themselves, muttering about how awful this was, how their boss couldn’t know yet. Mira asked what their boss would do, and the imp looked to the back of the room, where they saw a large marble door that Mira intuited led to the fiend. The imp told her that if they disturbed the fiend while he was with guests, their lives would be forfeit. Mira asked what he meant by guests, saying they had only just gotten to the plane. The imp believed her, and explained that beyond the door was the fighting pit of the fiend, Yent, and if they interrupted the fighting they would be thrown into the arena themselves.

The imp pointed to Integrity, asking if she could deal with the Boublage. She agreed that she could handle it, saying that she didn’t want to impose on the seven of the imps anymore. The imp told her not to worry, saying the others were just elemental copies of itself, given as a reward for their service. Mira manipulated the imp into telling her that the Fiend of Avarice had no weaknesses, except that they needed a constant flow of money, which was no issue with the Betting House around them. She thanked them, and said she would help deal with the Boublage. The imp suddenly realised it had dropped the lantern, though Mira said they would retrieve that as well. Integrity asked if there were any other monsters roaming the halls. The imp said it didn’t know, but they could possibly find out at the Heart of Desire, and gave them a map of the tunnels. Before the students left, it asked if they could throw the chimera’s body into the river, so it would have a happy afterlife.

Back in the tunnels, Serinepth had picked up the lantern, which immediately started glowing with its green and red light. They waited for their friends return. Bou poked the chimera’s body, then asked Serinepth if the other two were coming back. At that point, Mira and Integrity returned. They explained everything the imp had told them. They started thinking of ways to disrupt the flow of money in the casino, and Serinepth’s reminded them about the guards that had grabbed her before, and that they would need to de with them as well. Mira suggested the Heart of Desire could help them with that. Bou thought they might be able to find the source of the casino chips, and destroy it.

They looked over the map. The tunnels were arranged almost in a honeycomb pattern, with the far west being marked as The Beast Pits, the tunnels leading down marked as The Docks, and partway to the docks was the Heart of Desire. Remembering their other promise to the imp, Integrity grabbed the chimera’s tail and began to slowly drag it across the floor. The others questioned her decision, persuading her to leave it until they finished killing the Fiend of Avarice. They followed the map downwards towards the dock. At one point they came across another monster, though it seemed to be physically repelled by the light from the lantern, and eventually left them alone.

The temperature around them grew to unbearable levels, the smell of tar and something sickly sweet filled the air, and the colour of the tunnel walls turned from red to grey. They came across a fork in the path, unlike the honeycomb structure of the tunnels before them. The road to the left led to The Docks, while the path on the right led to the Heart of Desire. Following the path to the Heart, they could hear a slow heartbeat, the roof and walls had a darker colouration, until they arrived in a larger chamber. Suspended in the middle of the room, connected to the floor and ceiling by a series of veins and arteries, was a massive beating heart. Mira tried to talk to it, to no response. Serinepth tried beating over her heart in the same rhythm as the Heart, to no response. Integrity walked closer to the Heart, thinking about taking a bite out of it, but was quickly stopped by Serinepth. However, as she got closer, she noticed the skin covering the Heart was translucent, through which she could see something shining through. She reached her hand closer to the Heart, feeling a slight tingling through her fingers as sparks flew between it and her hand, lightning up the room.

Integrity jumped up and slapped the Heart. The tingling sensation grew and filled her entire body. When she landed on the floor, the sensation left her body for the ground, as though it were discharging static electricity. The Heart stopped beating. Serinepth also reached out to touch it, feeling the same surge of electricity. From further back in the room, Mira and Bou watched as the Heart seemed to shrink as she did so. Without the heartbeats filling the room, the students could hear the sound of gold falling onto the floor. They thought maybe by disrupting the Heart, they would disrupt the flow of money in the casino. Mira pointed a finger at the Heart and cast *Message*, asking if it could understand her. After a brief pause, a voice in her head said it required the master’s lead to help them. Serinepth reached up again to *Shocking Grasp* the Heart in an attempt to give it back the electricity that had discharged into them. The Heart immediately began beating much faster than before, several of the arteries holding it in place began to fall out until it collapsed onto the ground, heavily injured. From the broken veins above, streams of gold, gems, and chips began to pour onto the floor.

As they tried to figure out what they had done, the walls around them darkened further to a dark red. Integrity grabbed on of the coins on the floor as a memento. The Gambler’s hurried out of the room, and decided to head towards the Docks. The found a small, dark wooden dock with a lamppost at the end. Another silver lamp hung from the post. The water beneath them was a deep blue and green, with small traces of red. The wind whipped around them, with a sound like yelling or screaming. Integrity looked closer into the water, seeing that it almost seemed to be relatively shallow and suspended in a much deeper canyon. They wondered what might be down there, and hoped they would never have to find out.

They decided to rest for a while before continuing through the tunnels. Mira played some music, Bou sharpened his pike, Integrity dropped a rock into the water and saw that it came to rest about halfway down, Serinepth tried to relax while keeping watch over the area.