12 // Blood and Stone

3:00 PM - On to the Second Task: Investigate the University District Flame regroups in a shadowed alley nook, the ink barely dry on their sabotage of tomorrow’s edition of the Ember Times. With the press disrupted and tensions in the city rising, they mount their flying carpet and lift into the air. Illusion magic shimmers beneath the carpet, cloaking them from the street-level gaze of passersby.

The Flight Reveals Fey Haven is Alive

They soar eastward, the city unfolding beneath them. As they near Fey Haven, an unusual sight catches their eye. The walled-off fey district—typically dormant, veiled in stillness and gloom—is alive. Lanterns glow. Market stalls rise. Fey and humans bustle about in preparation for the trial and the rare festival planned to open the district’s gates to the public. The sanctuary, long silent, pulses with anticipation.

University District Protests

Avoiding the enchanted warding that surrounds Fey Haven, the Flame arcs northward across the river into the University District. Below them, a student protest churns with fading energy. Shouts are growing hoarse. Signs sag. Royal Guards push the crowd back—massive figures clad in black and gold. The mood teeters on collapse.

The Flame lands discreetly nearby. They split to scout and strategize. Fert scans for key access points into the university. Scraat slips into the crowd, eyes and ears open. Chappy keeps a watchful distance while Templeton guards their flank. Smurk ambles aimlessly, drawing no suspicion.

Fert spots a familiar landmark: the balcony to Professor Mavinda Yor’s chamber. He signals to the group. Meanwhile, Scraat observes closely—the guards pushing students back are goliaths, kin to Fert by their sheer size. With subtle flourish, Scraat drops a bag of ball bearings into the fray. Guards stumble. One falls so hard his pants drop, drawing laughter. Chappy steps forward, voice ringing clear with condemnation and conviction. His words stir the crowd. Emboldened, the students rally—the protest surges with new strength.

3:45 PM - Mavinda's Parting Clue and Admission

The group regathers and slips up to the balcony. Mavinda’s room appears unchanged since their last meeting—when he confided his fears about a threat to the mythal protecting Fey Ember. But something is different. A yearbook lies wedged between his bed and bookshelf. Marking its center: a handwritten note. “I’m sorry. She is my only child.”

The bookmarked page shows a younger Salynnya Yor, Mavinda’s daughter, standing with her class. One name stands out beside hers—Vorgash, known leader of the Onyx Order. The note and placement suggest intent. Someone—perhaps Mavinda himself—meant for it to be found.

Smurk turns the page and inspects the back with his Gem of Seeing. Hidden ink shimmers into view: a map leading to Salynnya’s residence nearby, still within the University District.

Rushing to Find the Hidden Entrance

The Flame sets off at once, but their aerial arrival hasn’t gone unnoticed. The Royal Guards are on the move.

They reach Salynnya’s humble home just ahead of pursuit. Inside, they search quickly—Templeton overturning furniture, Fert peeling back rugs—until they uncover a hatch beneath the bed.

One by one, they descend. The last of them pulls the hatch shut just as heavy boots stomp down the street.

Room 1: Stairwell

Below is silence, darkness and a foul stench of rot. The stairwell leads them deep underground.

Room 2: Ceremonial Chamber

A broad, shadowed hall faintly illuminated by arcane stones embedded high along the walls, casting a low, pulsing glow. The cold stone floor bears the sigil of the Onyx Order—an adapted rendering of Mavinda Yor’s theoretical diagram, which depicts the Feywild and the Material Realm as two slightly overlapping circles, bisected by a single line. This line represents the Mijanu, a force of planar tension believed to draw and repel worlds in a continual cycle of convergence and separation.

In one corner stands a stone well brimming with blood. At its center, a gleaming onyx sits in the liquid. When gazed upon, the gem seems to drink in the blood—its surface subtly swirling as if pulling the crimson pool into itself.

The walls are lined with heavy crimson banners, each emblazoned with the Onyx Order’s dark emblem, lending the space a solemn, reverent dread.

Room 3: Slynnya's Study

A meticulously kept study, its centerpiece a darkwood desk flanked by towering bookshelves that stretch nearly to the ceiling. The shelves are filled with tightly packed volumes, most of them academic treatises focused on the extraction and manipulation of arcane energy. Among the more disturbing titles: Benefits of Bleeding and Case Study: Mass Sacrifice of Goblins.

Amid the clinical tomes, one item stands out—a weathered, leather-bound diary, clearly well-read and cared for. It is Slynnya’s personal journal from her years as a student in the University District. The early entries are warm and curious, chronicling her friendship with a peculiar boy named Vorgash, who possessed a strange, gleaming stone. As their bond deepens, she introduces him to her father and his controversial research. Together, they begin treating the stone as if it were a child—nurturing it, feeding it whatever it desired.

As the diary progresses, the tone shifts alarmingly—from wide-eyed wonder to obsessive devotion, and finally into a fractured descent into madness.

Notable Detail: A ring of keys rests quietly on a nearby side table, overlooked but significant.

Room 4: Hemodrain

At the back of the room, a massive pump heaves rhythmically, forcing blood through a pipe embedded within the wall. The liquid is channeled through a complex network of mechanized drains, dripping methodically into an array of smaller collection bowls spread across a wooden table and into large stone vats lining the side wall. Onyx stone are carefully positioned in the vessels, set as though being cultivated—fed by the steady flow of blood.

Opposite the vats stand two long tables. One holds a selection of weapons: an onyx-bladed dagger, three crossbow bolts tipped with dark crystal, and what appears to be a finely crafted, magically-infused hand crossbow. Neatly stacked beside them are a series of handwritten reports, each detailing experiments conducted with the weapons. The notes describe how wounds inflicted by onyx-tipped blades become cursed—resisting all forms of magical or mundane healing. Adjacent to the weapon table is a wooden workbench lined with shallow petri dishes, each containing various combinations of blood and stone. Accompanying notes catalogue the results of exposure by species—recording how different blood types react to prolonged contact with the stone. Some samples darken and bubble; others coagulate instantly.

Notable Detail: While on high alert, Templeton realizes the (top) banners are hiding doors.