Session #3 as told by Finn

 Session #3 as told by Finn

 Read: Session #3 as told by Inez here..

Waiting for Time to Pass

 

Finn sat cross-legged on the cold stone floor of his cell, back propped against the wall, hands resting on his knees. The prison was quiet, save for the distant drip of water and the occasional scurry of rats in the dark.

 

One such rat—a plump little gray thing—sat comfortably on his knee, chewing on a stolen crumb. Finn ran a calloused finger down her back, watching as she twitched her whiskers.

 

“Y’know, Rosslyn,” he murmured, voice thick with years of cheap whiskey and worse decisions, “prison’s mostly just waitin’. Waitin’ for the next meal, the next piss break, the next time they remember you’re rottin’ away in here. Now, me? I don’t mind it much. The old, we’ve already had our stories. No hurry to make new ones. But the young?” He let out a dry chuckle. “The young can’t stand it. They need things to happen. Can’t just sit and let time do what it does.”

 

His fingers drummed against his knee.

 

“Jonathan and Inez—they always needed things to happen.”

 

Rosslyn twitched her tail.

 

Finn exhaled through his nose. “Jonathan, now he was a bloody disaster wrapped up in a cleric’s robes. They don’t always hand out divine wisdom to those with the strongest faith. Sometimes they pick the ones who can take a beating and still get up smiling.” He smirked. “Jonathan could take a lot of beatings.”

 

Rosslyn’s little beady eyes stared at him, unimpressed.

 

“And Inez,” Finn continued, shaking his head, “Inez was somethin’ else. Too sharp for her own good. City girl, through and through, but with a mean streak like a noble’s bastard daughter. Thought she was all refined and proper, ‘til you turned yer back and found her pickin’ a lock or makin’ somethin’ explode. And—” Finn grinned, tapping the side of his nose, “—secretly? Hot as the Nine Hells.”

 

Rosslyn let out a bored little chitter.

 

“Oh, don’t give me that look, Rosslyn. I’m old, not dead.”

 

He let out a breath and tilted his head back against the cold stone.

 

“Anyway. We were out lookin’ for moonstones. A simple job, right? Ha. Ha. Ha.”

 

Jonathan, Inez, and Finn had set up camp in the middle of the fourth field, their tents pitched beside a standing monolith. The moon hung fat and red in the sky, an eclipse creeping across its surface.

 

Jonathan was struggling to get a fire going. Finn was up to his elbows in owlbear guts, cursing his luck. Inez had kept the owlbear chicks around and Finn would fling bits and pieces of their mother at them. The critters had little compunction about eating their mother. Something was said between Inez and Jonathan, and they quickly wandered off to inspect the monolith.

 

“Can’t say I was too bothered about spendin’ a bit of time by myself. Inez never could keep her nose outta things. Somethin’ mysterious shows up, and she’s gotta poke at it like a cat with a bug. See where it gets her and Jonno”

 

Inez pulled out her arcane focus—a fancy little prism—and tried to do a bit of magic—the monolith wasn’t impressed. Meanwhile, Jonathan, in his usual manner, had decided to tempt fate and take a stroll around the stark monolith. Of course, he tripped over a rock and smacked face-first into the dirt.

 

“I’m tellin’ ya, the man had negative survival instincts. If he wasn’t gettin’ hit by somethin’, he’d find a way to trip, fall, or otherwise make life miserable for himself.”

 

Then, the wind shifted. Singing. Soft, eerie, comin’ from the field they’d just left—the one full of spiders. Sounded like marching music, like something was coming.

 

The two city kids were fascinated and moved towards the singing. Finn scowled. “Nope.” Unconsciously putting a hand on his father’s iron medallion hanging from his neck.

 

“We’d best stay put! The Harrows….” Inez, being Inez, ignored him completely and walked off. Jonathan, excitedly, following Inez like it was some grand adventure and spider hadn’t tried to eat him.

 

Finn, cursing under his breath, went after them. But decided to walk just off the road to be able to surprise a—surprise—coming at them.

 

“Bloody city folk—no sense of danger, no survival instinct, just straight-up walkin’ toward the creepy singin’ in the middle of the night like they wanted to die.”

 

Inez and Jonathan followed the song all the way back to the stone field. The stones had started glowin’, eerie blue light flickerin’ between them. Finn, must have caught something from Jonathan, tripped over a bush, tumbled out onto the road, and landed flat on his back beneath Inez’s dress.

 

Inez raised a single, unimpressed eyebrow before pulling him up.

 

“A woman of few words, that one. Except when she was givin’ me a headache.”

 

The field they had passed through with the unassuming stones all over it, now a several stone glowing with an earie blue, milky light.

 

“Guess that old coot in the robes, that was Jonathan’s Gran’pa wasn’t so crazy after all.”

 

Inez tried to pick up one of the glowing moonstones. Didn’t budge. Finn, glancing around at the creepy field, decided speed was of the essence. He didn’t want to stick around for whatever was singing aways further back.

 

“Right,” he muttered. “If I get ye a rock, can we leave?” Inez seemed to agree without too much commitment. Using his knife, Finn pried a stone loose and handed it to her. Strangely, where it had been heavy before and Inez couldn’t lift it, now as it was light as a feather. “As we were trying to decide who was bullshittin’ who”, Jonathan walked up and started yoking about how strong Inez was. “I guess the priest wasn’t just sweet of animals”

 

“Now Rosslyn—you may wonder—why didn’t you collect the moonstones for yourself?”, said Old Finn as he tapped his nose. “A grey stone, that lights up once a month under the Moonlight. Who needs that? A coal can do that too! When you want! And you can cook on coals!” Old Finn looking smugly at the moving rat that was scratching at his shirt.

 

Then Inez, being Inez, decided one stone wasn’t enough. She wanted more. Finn, exasperated, took a bite of his smuggler’s wedge to steady his nerves, turned on his heel and went back to camp.

 

“At this point, I figured, let ‘em have their shiny rocks. I had an owlbear stew to finish. Priorities.”

 

“Now Rosslyn, I’m not certain what happened out there. But when Jonathan and Inez returned, Inez was carrying three moonstones, big smile on her face. Jonathan came back empty handed. And I kid you not; as they walked into camp, the Friggin’ monolith began to lit up, runes burning across its surface!” The ground rumbled. Then, with a deep groan, the stone slid aside, revealing a spiraling staircase leading underground.

 

Jonathan, never one to pass up a terrible idea, yelled “Adventure!” and ran towards the stairs.

 

Finn sighed so hard his soul nearly left his body. “Halflings are supposed to be the sensible ones. I think he missed that particular gene.”

 

Finn cursed and clutched his iron medallion, wincing as it grew hot against his skin—uncomfortably so.

 

Jonathan, always eager for adventure, cast Light on his dart and, ever the optimist, prepared to head down. Inez and Jonathan each took a moonstone. Inez made hers disappear down the front of her dress—like magic—and tried to hand Finn one as well. But between the glowing sigils and his burning medallion, Finn wanted no part of this. Inez simply shrugged and set the largest stone on the ground before taking the medium-sized one for herself.

 

As Jonathan and Inez descended the stairs, Finn—muttering yet another curse—stuffed the large moonstone into his backpack, unwilling to leave it behind. Then, grudgingly, he followed them down.

 

Underground Chamber

The steps were human-sized, forcing Finn to climb down carefully. They led into a round chamber with a stone table in the center, upon which sat three cups of varying sizes.

 

“One thought crept through my head; Had we wondered back into one of Aalborr’s amusement halls?”

 

Cursing himself a fool, he turned to find Jonathan eyeing the whole situation like some grand puzzle, completely missing the gravity of their predicament.

 

Each of the cups matched one of the moonstones they had taken. Jonathan placed his small stone into the smallest cup. Inez hesitated, refusing to part with hers. Finn, with a long-suffering sigh, swung his backpack off his shoulder and pulled out the large stone. He set it snugly into the largest cup. Jonathan and Inez frowned at him.

 

Finn crossed his arms. “What? I thought we might bloody need it.”

 

Finally, Inez relented, placing her stone in the middle cup. The room lit up, and the staircase spun away, and the monolith above slammed shut, sealing them in.

Glancing around; one end of the room had a lever on the floor, opposite the lever on the other end of the room was a door. Jonathan, naturally, tried to open the door and immediately failed. Inez, not understanding the concept of how doors worked, ripped the doorknob off.

 

Finn stared. “Well, guess none of us know how doors work.”

 

The priest of good cheer—Jonathan—walked to the other end, laughing, immediately reached for the lever without a thought or care. Finn grabbed his arm. “Hold on.”

 

“Y’know, because self-preservation.”

 

After a thorough check for traps, Finn, satisfied there was no immediate danger, let Jonathan pull the lever.

 

Nothing.

 

Inez, ever impatient, yanked it back—sending the entire room spinning like a damn carnival ride.

 

Finn, cursing and slightly panicked, turned back to the door. Forget the lever; he could do this the right way. His lockpicks made quick work of it, and the door swung open with no resistance.

 

Beyond was only darkness.

 

Finn called for Jonathan to use his Light-spelled dart to light the way. The dart illuminated little—just a single flagstone. Annoyed, Finn grabbed the dart and tossed it further in. Still, it revealed barely anything before the light flickered out.

 

Inez, fortunately, had the sense to bring torches. Lighting one revealed a corridor leading to another stairway—this time going up.

 

They decided to take the moonstones with them. Strangely, their weights had shifted again. Jonathan found himself unable to lift the smallest one, but Inez, for some reason, could. She looked relieved to tuck it back into her cleavage.

 

“She had this way of keeping things in that dress of hers. I tell you, I saw her pull out an entire focus, two vials of ink, and a bloody notebook one time. Like a wizard’s personal vault, right there on her person. Fascinating woman.”

 

As Inez removed the stone from the cup, the spiral staircase descended once more. “I thought we could get out, but I should have known better.”

 

The Cube

Finn, wanting to get out of this mess, started up the stairs. But Jonathan, ever obsessed with treasure, insisted they explore further.

 

“Treasure?” Finn paused mid-step. Damn it. With a resigned sigh, he turned back, took a bite of cheese, and motioned for Jonathan to lead the way. “If he wanted adventure, he could walk in the front for once.”

 

That’s when they heard it.

 

Then, from the dark corridor beyond, came a wet, flopping sound.

 

Finn’s gut dropped. “Jonathan. Shut the door.”

 

Jonathan froze. And started to call for Inez.

 

“The door, Jonathan!”

 

Too late.

 

A translucent mass lurched out of the darkness—a gelatinous cube. It surged forward, engulfing Jonathan before he could react.

 

Inez, still in control of her senses, yanked the lever. The room spun, and the door slammed shut—and slicing the cube apart.

 

Unfortunately, that meant acid—which Jonathan took directly to the face. The poor bastard collapsed, unconscious. Inez started crying. Finn, cursing his entire existence, grabbed his water flask and started washing away the acid.

 

“A man gets himself melted, and what does she do? Cry. Bloody useless.”

 

“Tear cloth for bandages!” he ordered.

 

Inez, apparently still concerned with decorum, cut strips from Jonathan’s cloak rather than her own dress. “Typical!” Between the two of them, they managed to stabilize Jonathan. But lifting him was another problem. Finn, despite his halfling strength, found him far too dense. Inez, ever resourceful, pulled out an arcane focus and cast Unseen Servant—a ghostly force lifting Jonathan for her.

 

With their unconscious companion floating along, the three—now four—climbed the stairs.

Through sheer stubbornness, they got Jonathan back to camp.

 

A Different World

Emerging at the top, they expected to find their camp. Instead, they stood in the ruins of an unfamiliar place, in a field surrounded by trees. Above them, the moon shone silver—not red.

 

Finn’s medallion still burned against his chest, and now his knives, too, seared his skin. He quickly tucked them away in his satchel. “Let’s find cover,” he said, eyeing the treeline.

 

Jonathan began to stir, prompting Finn to shove a piece of cheese into his mouth. The halfling groaned back to life. Inez, relieved, kissed Jonathan’s forehead. Finn felt an unexpected twinge of jealousy.

 

Then Inez, thinking of her owlbear cubs, mimicked an owlbear’s call. A deep, guttural growl answered. Another call followed.

 

The three exchanged looks.

 

Finn paled. “Back inside. Now.”

 

Finn smirked at Rosslyn. “And that, Rosslyn, is why patience is a virtue.” Rosslyn twitched her whiskers. Finn chuckled, leaned back, and closed his eyes.