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Shadows Cast by the Hearth's Fire

Scene details

Setting: At the base of Rosia's glorious Hanging Gardens may be found the modest waterways that irrigate this wonder of the world. Following an unremarkable lead, our heroes venture into one abandoned channel to investigate rumors of shadowy figures passing through, seeking to confirm that no harm will be done at the Vampire Ball. Little do they know that a conspiracy is afoot, and traps and threats abound...

Log


 The fabulous tiered Hanging Gardens are the crowning jewel of the already opulent crown that is cultured Rosia. At its peak is the Royal Court, where the divine Queen of Oradia hosts grand feasts, performances, and debates for her vampiric elite and bestows her favors upon the supplicants who yearn to be invited. While the Court itself is a dream destination, the public is free to wander the breathtaking gardens themselves, delighting in the choicest flora of the bountiful jungle that surrounds this luxurious city. Given these sights, few indeed spend much time about the base of the garden, where some unremarkable side passages allow for maintenance of the complex irrigation system required to keep the many plants in good health.
 And this is where our heroes find themselves today.
 "Based on the quest posting, I had my suspicions," Ivo is saying, regarding the entrance to the specific waterway in question, its inconspicuous pale stone entrance girded only by an old gate. Brief examination would reveal it to be closed but unlocked. "But this is a major security risk. I'm reminded of the rumored Warrens within Cosmopolis, where the old city buried within the spire is used as secret passage between upper and lower tiers. If these passages lead through the Hanging Gardens themselves, they could lead someone unseen straight up into the Royal Court."
 The Cosmopolitan pauses a moment.
 "...Or out of it," he thoughtfully adds.
 Ivo then looks to his friends and smiles.
 "At the very least, let's take a look and see if we can find evidence of such passage. If we're lucky, maybe we'll even meet one of these alleged shadowy figures." After their success regarding the chaos in the plaza, he's feeling confident in their abilities. "I didn't mention it, but I think I've repaired Hauteclare's pommel sensor that was damaged at the isle. I attuned it to the fire elementals we contended with, after the battle, and it seems to be detecting-- hmm?"
 When he takes his hilt in hand instinctively, Ivo is started to find it vibrating. Half-drawing the sword, he examines the inscrutable readout, an eyebrow eventually lifting.
 "It says-- there are fire elementals in there."


BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79o1OxUJM_c

Ruidosa is in the irrigation system with Ivo and Reize. This is totally how she wanted to spend her holiday here, by the by, totally! A+!

She's following along and considers that. "They say long ago the young Queen of the court vanished one day. Maybe she eloped with a common human after escaping through here...." she remarks curiously.

She eyes Reize. Pause. "I don't think of you guys as common humans for the record." she says.

She then ughs. "Great. Fire elementals. More of them. Where are they coming from. I swear."



 So this is their destination...

 Reize's eyes wander around to take in the surroundings of the irrigation. Reize looks over towards Ivo. "So this is where we have to find the culprit, huh?"

 There is a question mark above Reize's head, "...Well, I am a great explorer, after all!" He speaks with pride in response to the 'common human'.

 Upon the sensor's activation, Reize watches with awe and then he tilts his head over then out through the garden. He draws his boomerangs out, almost ready in a sort of battle stance. "Well then, I guess we'll have to keep our wits about us." He frowns, looking back. "Oi, Rui... will you be alright?" Fire is the worst attribute for Ruidosa to deal with, after all.

 


 "I do think we're rare, as humans go," Ivo lightly replies, grinning between Reize and Rui. Special, one might say. His grin eases into a smile as he nods to Rui, reaching up to rub his chin thoughtfully. "We're thinking along the same lines, Rui. I wouldn't be surprised if the royal family has kept this passage open for a reason, in case they need to make a quick and inconspicuous exit. But a passage out is also a passage in, and I don't know how adept our allegedly fanciful Queen is at risk assessment. Of course, one cannot judge on rumors alone."
 Glancing down at his pommel, he nods again.
 "And I have the same question," he adds. "I can't be sure until we get closer, but the signature isn't the same as any of the elementals we encountered last time. I suspect this is unrelated to our plaza incident and the untamed areas of Oradia are simply conducive to the manifestation of fire elementals, which is why merchants come to collect them in the first place. But..."
 He looks back to Rui.
 "Surely the vampiric aristocracy has a vested interest in there thus not *being* untamed areas of Oradia in the first place, especially not in Rosia itself, of all places. This shouldn't happen, not naturally, even in an ignored waterway. Let's be on our guard."
 He thinks for a moment.
 "Reize, would you lead the way? If there's an ambush, you're best poised to evade it. I can take the middle and load water elespheres and prepare an ice shield if fire is aimed at Rui, and if not, she can attack at range freely."
 It's their usual formation, probably, but with the added bonus of Ivo saying more or less explicitly that he's asking Reize to spring the traps. Oh, well. Let's be real: that'd probably happen anyway.

Ruidosa frowns and huffs. "So vampires hate fire, as a record. It's awful and burns us. It's like the one weakness we all have. Universal. Except for..." she shifts uncomfortably. "I'm not here to expound on more Ordian legends. Let's get on with it." she says.

"So no one is importing these things in here. And the reading is different. Ugh. I wonder what it is. Why hide in a water way." she says.

"Hrm."



 After assessing the situation, Reize steps forward to take point per Ivo's recommendation. "Yeah, you're right." He is now in a 'ready to fight' mode, as he expects for there to be combat as they explore the area.

 Steeling his resolve, he steps forward to lead the way for the trio. "Sounds like a plan." He looks back towards Ivo and Ruidosa, "I'm counting on you both!"

 As the surroundings become more of Reize's peripheral vision, he takes a look for a good route to move towards. For now, he moves ahead until they can find any other paths. "Hopefully that sensor can give us what direction those elementals are at."

 

Ivo Galvan rolls 1d20>=10.
Comment: Perception
Roll(s): 11. Total result is 11. This is a success (by 1).

Reize Seatlan rolls 1d20.
Comment: Perception
Roll(s): 2. Total result is 2.

Ruidosa La Crima rolls 1d20>=10.
Comment: I'm gonna look around.
Roll(s): 16. Total result is 16. This is a success (by 6).

Reize Seatlan rolls 1d20>=13.
Comment: Trap 1 catches Reize
Roll(s): 7. Total result is 7. This is a failure (by 6).

Reize Seatlan rolls 1d20>=15.
Comment: Trap 2 catches Reize
Roll(s): 15. Total result is 15. This is a success (by 0).


 The party enters the waterway to find it effectively decommissioned, its stone channel mostly dry save for puddles and patches of water. While the masonry is meticulous, in keeping with the quality of the Hanging Gardens itself as a veritable wonder of the world and suggesting that the overall structure needs little maintenance, there is little indication that anyone has done work to maintain it in some time. Most likely it has been decades at least since this was an active irrigation channel. That said, it is not so ancient that one may easily find evidence of recent passage.
 "Hmm... the sensor indicates that the fire elementals are concentrated this way... and that's also the way I'd go if I were headed up to the Court."
 The channel slopes and wends, as it must to control the flow of (currently absent) water in the interior of this pyramidal garden, and Ivo repeatedly glances at the pommel of his sword to confirm the strengthening signal.
 "Hmm?"
 It is only as he does that he notices something curious by his foot the moment before he would have taken a step.
 "A tripwire...?"
 A beat passes before Ivo's eyes widen. How foolish. He was so focused on the elementals he didn't even consider that whoever was responsible might have set up physical traps, too.
 "Reize, watch out!"
 He calls out, but he has no sense of what other traps there might be. Ruidosa, however, might have gotten a better look at where other tripwires or triggers might have been located by whoever has infiltrated this place.

Ruidosa, being a vampire, can easily see a stone that's raised. It's a little darker than the rest of the area and this is enough to stop her from stepping on what she thinks is an obvious weight trigger for a trap. "H--"

Oh. Ivo already noticed. "It's ''Trapped''. Reize, watch out, please!" she says, looking behind her with wide worried eyes.

She tries to reach forward and grab Reize's scarf to save him---!?

Ruidosa La Crima rolls 1d20>=10.
Comment: Can she save her beloved!?
Roll(s): 4. Total result is 4. This is a failure (by 6).



 Upon entering the waterway, Reize takes a look around, getting a sense as to the dryness of the surroundings. "This explains why the fire elementals are able to thrive here. There's not much water here."

 As they travel, Reize goes down the slope and he takes ahead. He does not notice the tripwires around. In fact, he manages to step on one just as Ivo and Ruidosa both try to warn him, the latter even going as far as to grab him by the scarf.

 However, it's too late.

 Once the tripwire activates, there is a flash of flames erupting in front of Reize's face. "GAAAH!" The flash blinds Reize. He flails back, finding himself clicking on the second one.

 This time, two flames erupt from the sides to engulf Reize. However, he quickly takes a leap back, evading the erupting flames from consuming him. "Whoa!" He furrows his eyebrows. He sweats. "...That was close."

 He rubs his eyes, trying to let the flash wear off. Reize is currently dazed.

 

Ivo Galvan rolls 1d20+3>=10.
Comment: Elemental lore trivia, with skill and Perception success bonus
Roll(s): 4. Total result is 7. This is a failure (by 3).


 Ivo can only watch as Ruidosa desperately attempts to save Reize with the aid of his long yellow scarf, only for it to slip through her fingers. The poor boy takes the blinding flash head on, a trap which seems have been placed precisely to get him to step onto the flame trigger. However, their fearless leader's keen reflexes save him nonetheless, sparing him from further damage. It seems that their formation was well-chosen, or so Ivo tells himself in the wake of what was probably mostly luck.
 "Are you alright, Reize? Nice moves," Ivo says, expressing his concern in the form of praise. "I didn't expect a flame trap embedded in the walls. That's quite elaborate for an infiltration. How would they do that, and why go to such lengths...?"
 Instinctively, he glances down at his pommel again, having been distracted by Reize's dire straits for a moment.
 "Well, we should still have a little while to go until we encounter any elementals... what? No, that can't..."
 Doubt flickers in the magitechnician's eyes, and he hesitates for a moment, but confident in his earlier testing and ever better safe than sorry, he blurts out:
 "It says they're here!"
 Nothing is visible at the moment, and Ivo's generic warning is unlikely to provide much help in detecting the angle of attack. But if Ruidosa is knowledgable about rare variants of fire elementals found in the deep reaches of the Oradian jungle, of the sort veteran vampires might tell heroic tales, she may be able to put together what is happening: the flame trap was itself a trigger to stir fire elementals embedded in the walls, entities of fire that may meld with earth the way that water seeps through cracks in stone. Such beings have many names, as they tend to, but the most common appellation is Hearthkeeper.
 Even though no one has triggered a trap, on each side of the channel, a set of large flaming hands seem to emerge from the masonry itself, an amorphous fire head peering out with winking ruby eyes to belch jets of flame at the party, with a wide enough area of effect to potentially catch everyone, especially without advance warning.

> Two Hearthkeepers have attacked!

Ruidosa La Crima fails to save Reize by grabbing at his scarf. She then flails a little and avoids another trap in the ensuing miss as she purses her lips and frowns a little hard. She follows along until Ivo's detection sphere says that they're here. Wait.

Are those...?

Oh no.

"Watch out." she says as she avoids being cooked by fire, but it takes all her concentration to avoid this, not allowing her to counter attack easily as she hides somewhere behind Reize suddenly. Fire. Bad.



  Unfortuantely for Reize, he is currently dazed due to the flames over his eyes. He cannot quite coordinate his way through. Reaching into his satchel, he manages to procure a vial and splashes it over his eyes.

  Once the effects work, his vision focuses just in time ot see the manifestation of the flaming elementals. "....Ugh!" Drawing his boomerangs out, he takes the approach of throwing his boomerangs at the group while positioning himself in front of Ruidosa. "We gotta take them out, quickly!"

 

Ivo Galvan rolls 1d20>=10.
Comment: Magitech Fencing Art, Deep Freeze! ...a little belatedly.
Roll(s): 14. Total result is 14. This is a success (by 4).


 Ivo is caught flatfooted by the unexpected emergence of the Hearthkeepers from the walls, but alas, he does not have a Reize of his own to hide behind. Startling as one of the jets of flame arcs dangerously towards him, he has a split second to fumble for an elesphere to protect himself. Dexterity and accumulated experience save him from a toasty fate.
 "I'll pin this one down!"
 Deftly drawing and twirling Hauteclare in the same motion that he loads a water elesphere into its pommel, Ivo manifests a sheet of ice that negates the initial blast of fire -- and then, as one of Reize's boomerangs strikes the elemental from the side, overpowers it. Spinning into a thrust, the movement of the sword carries to the shape of the ice it produces, jutting out to cover the fire elemental's stony mouth and momentarily seal its fire at the source, pinning and adhering it to the wall whence it emerges too.
 "Shut down the other one and then we'll eliminate this one together!"
 The second Hearthkeeper is still spitting fire and turning toward Reize and Rui, aiming to sear them both. Reize's second boomerang strikes it and slows its movements, buying the two of them time as their fearless leader's weapons return. But the Hearthkeepers seem to be composed of a stony exterior and molten interior, and it may take a concerted effort to banish one.

Ruidosa La Crima rolls 1d20-2>=10.
Comment: I'm a big brave dog... ;_;. (Fire Detriment)
Roll(s): 20. Total result is 18. This is a success (by 8).

Ruidosa La Crima rolls 1d20>=10.
Comment: Dark Blast! >,<
Roll(s): 7. Total result is 7. This is a failure (by 3).

Ruidosa La Crima steels herself. In the wake of Heartkeepers and fire and oh god, she isn't ready for this. What would her mother do and think right now!? She can imagine the lecture RIGHT now it's like her mother is telepathically speaking into her brain and---oh. Oh she is.

FINE MOM.

She peeks from behind Reize and steps cautiously out of his shadow and a few steps forward quickly before throwing out a tremendous blast of dark, destructive power from her hands, as she 'nugs!'

The wave of dark, destruction force impacts the Hearthkeeper, but doesn't get to the interior of the beast.

"FINE SEE I DID IT!" she remarks to no one particularly outloud.

Reize Seatlan rolls 1d20>=10.
Comment: Avoiding the roasting
Roll(s): 9. Total result is 9. This is a failure (by 1).



 Luckily, the group have their designated tactics. Reize and Ruidosa can focus on one of them so that they can eliminate the other one. Both are made of stone and molten interior. The explorer gives off a grin at the second Heartkeeper getting the boomerang. "Yeah!" However, his clothes are caught on fire as the flames catch onto him.

 "Gaaahh!" Retracting from Ruidosa to prevent her from taking any brunt, he decides to charge in and then spring up into the air. The aether around him manifests as a cutting blade as he brings his foot down to crush through the defenses of the Hearthkeeper. "Haaa!"

 

Reize Seatlan rolls 1d20>=10.
Comment: Fading Sun (DEF Crusher)
Roll(s): 6. Total result is 6. This is a failure (by 4).

Ivo Galvan rolls 1d20+2>=10.
Comment: Continue pinning down the second Hearthkeeper with Deep Freeze
Roll(s): 5. Total result is 7. This is a failure (by 3).


 "Ggghhh!"
 Ivo, despite his bold claims, is struggling. If the Hearthkeeper's fire jet was intense, its internal heat is all the more so. The ice with which he was keeping it pinned to the wall, trying to prevent it either from attacking or retreating back into the stone, is melting faster than he can replenish it. Before his eyes, he sees the elemental's maw break free of its confines, and Ivo has time only to activate and raise his energy buckler before he takes another jet of fire straight on. Aether sizzles as his lighter Oradian cloak catches flame around the edges, the typically lackadaisical Cosmopolitan enduring scattered burns as he tries to hold out for his friends.
 "Reize, you got it yet!?"
 He cannot look to see, but the situation is not ideal. The Hearthkeeper contending with Ruidosa and Reize has had its outer rocky armor pulverized through the combination of dark blast and fierce kick, it's true, and its molten core exposed. But rather than damaging the core, Reize's boot has lodged into the magma-like substance in the Hearthkeeper's middle and is beginning to melt. Worse still, arms of flame attempt to wrap around the boy as the elemental, compatible with fire and earth alike, begins to withdraw, seeking terrifyingly to drag our hero into the stone itself, through which only it can move.
 But Reize and Rui can see, exposed by their attacks, a gleaming aether core crystal. If that crystal can be shattered while still exposed, Reize's fate will be avoided.

Ruidosa La Crima rolls 1d20>=10.
Comment: Falcata to the Core!
Roll(s): 6. Total result is 6. This is a failure (by 4).

Ruidosa La Crima winces as Reize fumbles, but yet they have exposed the juicy, succulent core of the Hearthkeeper! If she can shatter that... they can destroy one of the problems. So she lashes out with a blade while calling out "FALCATA!" into the air, swinging a black energy blade that materializes into existence on her swing!

She misses, and fumbles, terribly, accidently ramming into the Heartkeeper. Which grants her a gift, a boon even! Wait no, all the opposites of that.

> Ruidosa has been afflicted with the BURN status effect!

Ruidosa is on on her dress and she cries and flails a little at this. Trying to stamp it out with a hand quickly, quickly!

Reize Seatlan rolls 1d20>=10.
Comment: SHINING MOON!
Roll(s): 20. Total result is 20. This is a success (by 10).



 "Not yet!" Reize responds to Ivo.

 Reize grimaces as Ruidosa is set on fire. "Ruidosa!" He snaps his head towards the Hearthkeeper as it tries to ensnare him. The boy then shimmers with a glow before he shouts, "You'll pay!"

 He launches off the ground with a backflip and slams his foot out towards the Hearthkeeper's core. He breaks through the hands trying to pull him in and he just strikes not once, not twice, but three times.

 "SHINING MOON!"

 The slashing kick tears into the core.

Ivo Galvan rolls 1d20>=10.
Comment: Magitech Improvization check: could a past experiment turn the tide?
Roll(s): 8. Total result is 8. This is a failure (by 2).


 Ivo, hearing Reize's response, effortfully clears his mind of the pain of his burns and focuses while he still can. Ice and frost aren't enough to counter this elemental, not in the potency that he possesses. But the elemental seems to be a hybrid of fire and earth. When he and Fabroxo and Argent first experimented with crafting lightning elespheres by observing the Heavenly Crowned Beetle so sacred to Kernunnos, he had developed dual-aspected elespheres. It's been a while, and none of the other experiments were grand successes without a similar natural model to study, but he had attempted other hybridizations. And so...
 "How's this!?"
 Huddled behind his buckler to the best of his ability, Ivo retracts his sword arm to slap the pommel against the holster hidden in his cloak, a method of quick-loading elespheres for emergiences and various contingencies like this. Within moments, from Hauteclare's blade now emerges not ice but a frigid fog, the result of combined and balanced water and wind.
 "Nnnh."
 Unfortunately, the Hearthkeeper does not seem harmed, exactly, but it does cease its flame-jet assault in apparent confusion and, more to the point, seems unable to retreat back into the wall. The fog, though it does not do any damage, is working its way into cracks and crannies, creating a kind of buffer between the Hearthkeeper and the wall and beginning to peel away its own stony outer layer of armor. But Ivo can do no more. Arms numbed from the force of the attack and reeling from his own BURN status, he slumps to his knees, unable to take advantage of any opening, hardly able to lift his head right now to even look at his foe.
 Reize, in contrast, has a bird's eye view of the proceedings, as it were. For his spectacular Shining Moon has not only utterly obliterated the first Hearthkeeper's core, leaving it to melt into nothingness as a swiftly cooling puddle, but sent him soaring and flipping nearly to the waterway ceiling, so that he is looking down at the second Hearthkeeper, which seems unaware of his positioning.

Ruidosa La Crima rolls 1d20>=10.
Comment: Barrier Break.
Roll(s): 17. Total result is 17. This is a success (by 7).

If only, she had the sacred artifact, the BURNHEELS... ancient high heeled shoes passed down from noble to noble and makes vampires immune to the burn status! But she doesn't. Instead, she burns and cries and tries to put out her own fires.

> Ruidosa has taken some damage from her BURN status!

Getting back some wherewith all, she tries to force as much power as she can into a wave of destructive force, made to destroy barriers and hard obstacles, and this means the hard rocky exterior of the remaining Hearthkeeper!

"DIE IN A ..." pause. "Hrm."

"Die in a NOT FIRE!" she screams because she can't think straight while on fire.



  Reize looks over towards the Hearthkeeper as the core shatters and melts into nothing. He grits his teeth as he shifts his head over towards the second Hearthkeeper. He immediately turns around to sprint and he leaps out to strike out towards the next Hearthkeeper.

  Reize keeps his hold to fight and he leaps out to launch a spinning kick along with the boomerang strike.
 

Reize Seatlan rolls 1d20>=10.
Comment: Striking the last one with a combo
Roll(s): 14. Total result is 14. This is a success (by 4).


 Ivo, shaking his head slowly, manages to lift his head to see that, while his Hearthkeeper opponent's stony armor has half peeled away, it remains unharmed. Indeed, it stretches out further from the wall, unable to retreat but also uninterested, as it prepares a follow up flame jet to roast the now defenseless dilettante. Things look grim for our deuteragonist.
 "As... anticipated."
 But he's quirking a lopsided grin, unflinching, as within moments, Ruidosa's barrier-shattering blast rends the Hearthkeeper's remaining stone away and, in perfect sync, Reize closes in to land a powerful combination attack on its completely exposed core. With a satisfying crash, a second crystal is destroyed, and the second melts just as the first.

> The party is victorious!

 Ivo quietly pants for breath as the heat about them disperses, sweat trickling down his brow as he reaches into his cloak to apply one of Laineth's poultices to the worst of the burns on his shield arm. Blinking so that the sweat does not blind him, he catches a glimpse of something gleaming as the remains of the Hearthkeepers sink into the earth. Their aether cores have shattered, but something remains in its place, visible now that the flames have faded: gleaming bracers of exquisitely chiseled carnelian quartz, catching the light through the gold or electrum that has been inlaid in lines and bead-like droplets as though poured molten upon the gem.
 "Breathtaking," Ivo murmurs, picking one up once he is sure that it has sufficiently cooled and turning it to one side and another. "Was this used as a focus for summoning? I assumed that these elementals were intentionally placed as wards already, but... to use such items is quite a sacrifice... what plot have we stumbled upon?"

> Unidentified Carnelian Bracers acquired.
> This is a Lucky find!

 Little does Ivo know that, within moments, the beginnings of an answer will be offered. For as our heroes recover, they will begin to hear hurried footsteps and then, soon, three cloaked figures will emerge from about a corner further ahead, hoods obscuring their faces. Yet their outfits are familiar, a sort of poncho, common enough, yet seen by the party recently on only one occasion. Moreover, the center figure is of an equally familiar tall and willowy build.
 "Is that...?"
 There is no time for Ivo to say more. That figure gestures commandingly and the other two, seeming to obey, dart into the shadows. The central one remains, extending a hand that holds an extraordinary specimen of a fire aether crystal. A woman's voice begins to chant, and as soon as she does, ripples of heat whip back her hood, revealing the fine and stern features of the clockwork merchant's tribal companion from the market before.

The flames of the hearth
 are gentle and sweet.
But in defense of the home
 how savage, the heat!
Ankhiale!
 Grant me |rPurgation|w!

 As the aether crystal disperses into powder, flames begin to whip, obscuring her from view in the heat haze.
 "Who are you, really!?" Ivo shouts. "What do you want with the Oradian court? What are you and your people planning?"
 If she can hear, she does not answer. Something more terrible than the Hearthkeepers is gathering and threatens to fill the passage in which they have fought. Our heroes must make a choice, and quickly.

> Stand and fight or flee?
>> Fight
>> Flee

Ruidosa La Crima is burning. They are not outnumbered, persay, but they are ragged after a fight and she's still on fire (did she mention that? She's still on fire.) and then she looks to Ivo and Reize. "We have to run, we can't ''fight these'' people right now." she says angrily.

"We'll investigate more later..." she says. And warn people , she doesn't say outloud.

"Come on." she says, hoping the others will see her sense, as she smokes. Ow.

>> Ruidosa has taken damage from her continued BURN status.



  Reize does take the time to admire the surroundings. However, they looks over to the things that they've stumbled upon. "Oh!" The bracers found, Reize gives a grin and the party obtain it.

  The chanting, however, earns a frown, "Oh no! Let's get out of here!" He points on the others to flee and he preapres to go behind them.

 Reize is pouring some remedy from the vial on Ruidosa.

 


In conclusion:

>> Flee!!

Maybe our heroes can handle Purgation when they are a little better rested and, perhaps, better equipped.

> The side quests "Seek the BURNHEELS" and "Identify the Ankhialean Bracers" have been added to the Journal.