IN THE RUBBLE

***IN THE RUBBLE*** is the eight session of *Glimpses into the Fade.* The Unnamed Party continues their trek through the tunnels of Duncaster, nearly meet their demise with the help of the Fade.

## Musings

*As the wind bellows through the cavern a hundred feet below the city of Duncaster, the party take a moment to rest and regain their bearings as they prepare to tackle what lies further into the tunnels*

## **Synopsis**

As the winds blow through the tunnels, Riya stands by the entrance of the cavern. She has a moment to herself, hearing the cries and shouts of her party members fighting in the distance. This is the first time shes been out of the comfort of her own home, and once she got down there and heard the fight, it really settled in how serious this is. As she thinks, she hears the soft playing of a lute from the distance, beckoning her to move forward. Riya steps forward, and the more steps she takes forward, the lute begins to fade away, as if its done its job.

Riya returns to the group during their short rest, seeing Hira and Oriza fast asleep, and the rest quietly thinking to themselves. Monsoon greets her, his tone of understanding and acknowledgement of why she wasn't there for the fight, and says they'll leave in an hour. She sits down with everyone, and Anthir and Riya begin to play a song of rest. Meanwhile, Hira who was beckoned by the smell of wisteria flowers, finds herself in the mindscape of Vilya.

Vilya questions Hira, how is her brother? Hira admits he's not doing well, his magic is rather unreliable at the moment. Hira has yet to talk to him, and Vilya acknowledges her brother's bad temper, mentioning the phrase "No matter what the storm, I will come back to him" may have some use to calm him down. Vilya asks how she's been, and upon Hira's failed deception on her well being, Vilya attempts to cast a Zone of Truth spell to learn why. However Hira succeeds on her saving throw, causing Vilya to grow embarrassed and move past the topic all together.

Vilya begins going through her findings:

* There are ruins in the fade not of her own memory, and posits someone was living there before their arrival.
* Both memories and real things in the Fade, but also a conglomeration of both — there is something written in ancient sylvan text about a plague, and in some parts, they found traces of The Blight.
* They've found things in Orion are present around the rifts, and perhaps there are things of the Fade bleeding into parts of Orion as well.
	+ Such things like the gates and crystalline tree from Hira and Anthir's memories are still present in the Fade.

Hira wakes with a start, and begins relaying what she learned to the rest of the party. Moving further into the tunnels, everyone makes a wisdom save. As they arrive to a large cavern, with beautiful crystal clear waters, and a statue of a woman in the middle of the room. That's what most people saw, except Riya, who upon successfully passing her wisdom save, sees the cavern as mundanely normal, with a glowing portal in the middle. As initiative begins, all but Riya feel a pull towards the statue, and step forward into the wadding waters.

[insert us all almost dying here]

Riya could only watch as her new friends got swept away in the waters. She hears a soft voice, asking if she'd let her friends die. Riya strongly exclaims no, and slowly something beacons towards Riya, reaching a hand out. Riya holds the light in her hands tightly, as she opens her hand once again the light is gone -- a ring of leaves make the band of the ring, and an unpolished gem in the middle. “Then lets go save your friends..one more time,” whilst the tentacles rescind pulling back, retreating towards the fey drift. With the threat gone, Riya frantically ties all the clothes of her bag together, tying herself to a rock and begins fishes her friends through them one by one.

“Now never doubt yourself again,” says a feminine voice through the ring. Riya manages to pull everyone out of the water, bringing everyone up to a single hit point. The rest of the group wakes up to see Riya weeping loudly, wheezing and gasping for air as she pulls everyone into a giant hug, relieved everyone is okay.

## Featured Characters

#### The Fireflies

* Anthir
* Bran
* Hiraeth
* Oriza
* Riya

#### Returning

* Monsoon
* Vilya
* Red Eyes

#### Mentioned

* Odin
* Arel
* Ambrose