Hero Quest, episode four

Journey Through the Fog

Character Sheet

Race: elf

Class: bard

Background: scholar/street urchin

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Previously on Hero Quest:

• Episode one

• Episode two

• Episode three

Searching for his long-lost brother in the depths of some long-forgotten tomb, our intrepid hero has found himself pulled into a twisted hall of mirrors at the bottom of a dark, whispering well. Here he found a strange, faceless creature, humming a low, melodic song. With lute in hand, our hero tentatively struck a chord in harmony with the creature’s humming and soon found himself pulled into a contest of music and will; the creature’s song of darkness versus our hero’s song of light. Just as it seemed like our hero’s song would be all but drowned out, the creature relented, seemingly placated and now somehow just that little bit more human. Now the creature leads our hero in the swirling mists at the hall’s end. But can the creature be trusted? And what awaits within the mists? Our hero’s brother? Or certain death?

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As you follow the creature down the hall, long tendrils of swirling mist reach for you, cool and damp as they pull you in. Then the mist is all around you and the creature ahead fades to a mere silhouette. 

The creature turns, vanishing around the vague impression of a corner. You follow and with every step the mist deepens until the creature’s silhouette fades completely and you’re left with only its low humming for guidance. The creature turns left, then right, then left again. At times you find yourself feeling your way through what seem to be narrow, moss-slick doorways, and at others across wide open spaces, the walls of which you cannot find. 

If not for your guide, you’re sure you’d be irreparably lost in this place. Thankfully, it stays with you despite your slow, cautious pace. Its humming is always just ahead of you.

You come to a place where you can hear the echoes of running water. Your foot treads air and you tumble forward, groping blindly through the fog before crashing into water lit with an eerie green glow. 

Then you’re submerged, flailing in the murk, struggling to hold your breath and find your bearings and…

There are faces all around you, spectral and gaunt, with dark, sunken eyes. A few bare the faintest wisps of bodies. They reach for you with icy fingers and a shiver passes down your spine. Then through the crowd you glimpse a face, like and yet unlike your own—the same face you saw at the bottom of the well. Your brother or yet another phantasm?

Below you in the black depths, a great shape stirs, dark and terrible and slowly rising towards you.

• Episode five

Thank you for joining in on the adventure.