19 - The tunnel found
| Session 1 | Session 18 | Session 19 | ||
| ◀◀ | ◀ | ▲ | ▶ | ▶▶ |
| Ashira Brolin Frostbite | Ashira Frostbite | Ashira Frostbite |
A foolish Minstrel
The mists clung thick to the narrow bridge spanning a chasm of uncertain depth, the scent of ozone and damp rot clinging to the air. As the group stepped cautiously forward - Frostbite’s scales lightly crackling with pent-up magic, Maeve’s keen eyes narrowed for threats, Dhanell wincing slightly from an earlier wound, Ashira silent and poised at the rear - a strange glow emerged from beneath the wooden planks. Three flaming skulls, levitating with malicious glee and trailing smoky embers, rose into view.
Their voices fused in uncanny unison: "You must not cross!"
Frostbite, never quite at home with subtleties, stepped forward. "Are you Otis?" he asked with a raised brow.
The group collectively blinked. Otis? Frostbite meant Obud - the brigganox they were supposed to meet - but the name came out wrong, muddled in his frost-hazed memory.
The three skulls looked at one another with flaming eye sockets narrowed in mock confusion. "We are not this… Otis. We are Weaugh, Teaugh, and Peaugh," one intoned, their tones overlapping eerily, "and you shall not cross."
Before clarification could be sought - or an apology offered - the skulls suddenly twisted in the air, crackling with baleful energy, and attacked.
Maeve responded instantly, her voice laced with arcane venom as she unleashed a volley of insults that would make a banshee blush. Ashira, still behind the party, loosed a precision arrow from her longbow, her boots planted firmly on solid ground and not yet on the bridge.
The skulls surged forward, circling the party with sinister grace. Flames burst from their eye sockets, arcing towards Frostbite and Dhanell in a blazing torrent. Frostbite roared, his scales singed, his temper flaring. Muttering an incantation, he imbued his club with primal magic and sprinted directly at the skull still hovering above the bridge. With a heavy swing, he slammed it backwards in a crackling flash of enchanted wood against cursed bone.
Dhanell, not to be outdone, released a bolt of radiant energy that coiled midair and struck the same skull. Its eyes suddenly shrank to comical pinpricks, and it tilted its flaming head sideways, deadpanning, "Congratulations."
Frostbite blinked. "What?" But the battle raged on, confusion or not.
Another arrow from Ashira cut through the mist and fire, slamming into the side of a second skull. Frostbite inhaled, the temperature dropping precipitously, and exhaled a cone of bitter frost. One skull was briefly frozen midair like a grotesque ornament before Frostbite charged past it to the far side of the bridge.
Maeve and Dhanell followed suit. Ashira darted forward just as the skulls resurfaced, drifting up with the same grin and eerie repetition: "Congratulations…" But she was already past them.
On the far side, Molliver called out cheerfully from safety, "Looks like you passed the test!"
Frostbite, brushing soot from his scales, grumbled, "Worst. Test. Ever."
Onward they traveled, into a rocky grotto where an unexpected sight greeted them - a shaggy piebald pony standing quite still, bearing a weathered hut upon its back like a turtle carries its shell.
The group approached with caution and curiosity. Frostbite, unbothered as ever by the strange, reached out and gently patted the pony’s nose. The creature blinked once. Then, with a soft click, the hut’s wooden door creaked open. Warm golden light spilled out, and from within emerged a stout, elderly brigganox.
"Big folk," he said with amused surprise, his eyes squinting from the light. "Didn’t expect to find any of you out here."
Frostbite tilted his head. "Otis?"
"No," the brigganox said, bemused. "Name’s Obud."
"Right, that’s what I said."
Obud raised a brow, clearly not convinced. Still, he invited them to speak of their business, and when they explained their desire to find Endalyn, he requested reciprocity - something of value, not necessarily in gold. After a brief exchange, Dhanell offered Brolin’s enchanted candy, the sweetness enough to satisfy the old brigganox.
In exchange, Obud gestured to what looked like a sheer cliff wall. "There’s your way," he said, grinning. "Just walk through."
The group hesitated. Frostbite, skeptical, stepped forward - and passed through the illusion as though it were mist. One by one, the others followed, emerging into a narrow tunnel that stretched far into the unknown. The darkness was complete, but the group’s darkvision aided their passage. They walked for hours, silence falling over them like a blanket, broken only by Dhanell’s occasional pained groans.
"You should’ve said something," Frostbite muttered eventually. He knelt, whispered to the earth, and called upon nature’s aid to mend Dhanell’s wounds. The land, ever responsive to Frostbite’s grounded magic, answered.
At long last, they reached the tunnel’s end - a true stone wall this time. Red light shimmered from tiny cracks in the stone. Frostbite leaned in, hearing faint voices, and then murmuring, "I’ll have a proper look," he transformed into a spider and crawled through.
On the other side was a storage chamber, illuminated by glowing red orbs in sconces. Props and costumes lay scattered, including a marionette skeleton tangled in its own strings. A larger chamber beyond was bustling with goblins preparing a performance. One woman, clearly rehearsing, endured constant prodding from a goblin with needles. A tiny creature affixed to a lamp scribbled hurried notes with charcoal nearby. A spiral staircase climbed toward an unseen stage.
Spider-Frostbite ascended, stealthy as shadow, and found a grand theatre above - a stage dressed for tragedy, darklings seated as an audience, and hanging wooden contraptions overhead manipulated by goblins.
Returning through the crack, he resumed his usual form and gave the others a tangled but vivid recounting. At Dhanell’s suggestion, Frostbite began quietly removing stones to widen the gap.
As the group slipped through, a voice whispered, "Pssht! I got me in a fix - help!" The tangled marionette had noticed them. Fearing it would raise the alarm, Frostbite swiftly grabbed it and tossed it back into the tunnel, right toward Maeve and Ashira.
"Was that necessary?" Maeve asked sharply.
"Made sense to me," Frostbite shrugged.
Maeve quickly freed the puppet, who introduced itself as BreakALeg, a discarded creation of Endalyn’s early artistry. The marionette proved surprisingly helpful, sharing secrets about Endalyn’s Oracular Library, the lightning-charged orrery, and the Motherhorn itself.
They moved into the next room where a woman in green rehearsed tearful lines. Frostbite became transfixed again - tragedy, after all, had a certain beauty. The others, acting quickly, saw an opportunity: Maeve enchanted the woman, who promptly asked, "What can Charmay do for you, mistress?"
While Charmay babbled about her role, Ashira quietly unshackled a trapped brigganox by the lamp, earning a grateful look.
Upstairs, a dramatic scene played out: an actor weeping beside a coffin, goblins darting about to adjust props, and rows of darklings watching. In one of the upper balconies, a darkly dressed woman observed the group with intent. Was it Endalyn?
Before they could ponder too long, a jester goblin in garish motley leapt before them. "You must perform! For the honor of meeting Endalyn!" he cackled, producing a crumpled script. Then, in classic theatrical cruelty, he tore it up. "No time to learn it. I’ll prompt you."
"But we’re not performers," Dhanell tried. "We don’t want to meet her."
The jester only grinned wider. "Oh, but the audience does."
The darklings leaned in, menacing in their stillness. Resistance seemed… unwise.
Costumes were brought out. Roles offered. Time ticking.
Frostbite, with unexpected enthusiasm, snatched up a cap with jingling bells and a lurid striped tunic.
"I shall be," he declared, with the grandiosity no one expected from him, "the foolish minstrel!"
| Session 1 | Session 18 | Session 19 | ||
| ◀◀ | ◀ | ▲ | ▶ | ▶▶ |
| Ashira Brolin Frostbite | Ashira Frostbite | Ashira Frostbite |
Updated on: 07:43
