Episode 79
Surface Tension
In a flooded prison level, ignited by wild magic fire, the Soul Survivors fight their way out of the Sump.
Recap
Boiling Point
The Soul Survivors found themselves right where they left off — ankle-deep in a flooded, torchlit corridor, Aztlan Tuckoron on the other side of a heavy door, and Gemma wreathed in uncontrolled fire. The wild magic surge had ignited an oil slick on the surface of the water, and orange flames crawled across the corridor as the two remaining Cindersworn drew their swords.
Gemma, panicked and blazing, screamed at Anton for help — then made the selfless decision to drop her concentration on Hold Person, freeing up her focus at a personal cost. In recognition of the sacrifice, she was awarded an inspiration she immediately passed to Anton. She spent her turn trying to get the fire under control while the Fire Shield continued to burn around her.
The free Cindersworn, unshaken by the flames — welcoming them, even — stepped into the fire and reached out to Inflict Wounds on Gemma. She attempted to subtle cast Backlash to deflect the damage, while Willa simultaneously used her Blood Curse to weaken the attacker's roll. The attack still connected, though the damage was reduced. Gemma took the hit and was forced into another wild magic save. Willa, too, had used her reaction.
Meanwhile, the other cultist — the one around the corner who had gone unseen — quietly cast Silence, dropping a sphere of soundless air over the corridor. Spells with verbal components became impossible. The crackle of fire and rush of water died away into an unnerving quiet.
Anton, unable to cast Bless within the silence, pivoted and drew his longbow instead. He fired two quick shots at the cultist whose Hold Person had just expired — the man charging back into the fray, arrows catching him in the chest for eleven damage. Surrounded by fire, Anton failed his Dexterity saving throw and took three fire damage as the flames singed past him.
On her turn, Gemma — regaining a flash of composure — subtle cast Haste on Anton, bypassing the silence entirely. Speedy and sharp, Anton used his newfound movement and extra action to charge into the cell, unlock Aztlan's chains with the keys passed to him by Forge, and press fifteen points of Lay on Hands into the battered prisoner. Still unsure whether Gemma was alright behind him, he cast Shield of Faith onto her as a bonus action from outside the sphere of silence.
“You better be worth all this,” he told Aztlan.
Forge, telepathically alerting the group that Tuck was free, dashed through the fire toward the fleeing Cindersworn who was making for the stairs — taking fire damage en route but pushing through. Willa followed, leaping across the flames and grappling the cultist on the steps before he could raise any alarm. She dragged him back down the stairs and presented him to the group with a quiet, satisfied air.
The held cultist struggled to maintain concentration on the Silence sphere while restrained, failed, and the corridor flooded back with sound. The fire on the water, its fuel nearly spent, began to gutter out.
Combat was over.
Getting Out
With the silence lifted, the Soul Survivors took stock. Anton pulled out his Driftglobe to light the dark corridor. Aztlan — gaunt, glowing-eyed, and dressed in rags, but focused — mentioned that his gear had likely been taken to the supply area two floors up, the same floor they had bypassed on the way down. The party decided there was no time. They had what they came for.
Willa locked the captured Cindersworn in one of the empty cells. Forge, learning from Aztlan that two more prisoners — a downtrodden dwarven soldier and a battered human warrior — had been on his floor and had apparently helped rob the Cindersworn during their time inside, retrieved the keys and let them out. Both were too weary to fight, so into the mirror they went. The mirror now held eight souls.
Forge handed Aztlan his spare warhammer off his belt.
“You may want to step back.”
Forge charged up his steam-powered arm, the mechanism whistling and vibrating violently, and drove it into the damaged wall with a thunderous crash. The stone shattered. Canal water surged in immediately, flooding the lowest level within seconds. The guard still locked in the cell panicked — Willa, unwilling to leave him to drown, grabbed the keys and unlocked the door. Excelsior. He failed his Charisma save and disappeared into the mirror.
“That’s a neat trick,” Tuck said, before diving through the breach in the wall.
The party followed one by one, pulling through cold, dark murk into the canal beyond. Forge, weighed down by his armor, sank along the bottom. Anton guided the way with his Driftglobe, its light cutting through the gloom. They surfaced in the canal beside the Sump's exterior wall, covered in swamp muck, and dragged themselves onto the muddy shore within the city walls.
She's Returned
The Greenfall Revel still burned in the distance — torchlight, distant music, the remnants of fireworks. The Soul Survivors were catching their breath, dripping and filthy on the canal bank, when a sound cut through everything else. A low, distant boom that didn't sound like a firework. It built outward — felt more than heard — rattling through their chests.
They looked northwest.
Khorir was erupting. A column of fire rose from the volcano's peak, and a dark plume of smoke spread across the sky, blotting out the stars above the horizon. The distant glow of molten rock lit the underbelly of the clouds a deep and ugly red.
And then a voice came from directly above them.
“She's returned.”
Spider Lily looked down from the back of a dragonnel above them.. On the streets around them, red-robed Cindersworn began swarming in from every direction.
The jailbreak was complete. And the Flamemother has returned.
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