Roleplaying table top games make for great stories! The Envoys of Spark is a Dungeons and Dragons campaign created by Elyse T. Join hilarious and entertaining player characters on their voyage in an unknown world, as they try to accomplish an enigmatic mission.
The Envoys of Spark Chronicles are published every Monday! Check back for new adventures!
Check Out Part 1 of The Envoys of Spark
Don’t Fall
“Alert. Final Defense Scenario has been triggered. Alert. Total flooding of the storage gallery initiating in 30 minutes”
The tunnels in which the heroes found themselves would soon become completely flooded, time was short.
Medea the Wizard, along with Virgil the Sorcerer, advanced down a secret tunnel recently discovered by Regor III, a Hynerian who rode a floating chair behind them. Kohmai, a post-humanoid man followed them, with a Hobbit, Beatrice, close by.
The two magic wielders advanced a little bit too quickly down the corridor and learned a tough lesson; ancient tunnels are often armoured with traps! Medea the Wizard of the First Order felt the stone tile under her feet give way and she fell down a ten feet drop. The Sorcerer Virgil was also caught unaware, but managed to hold on to the edge of the pit with one hand.
The rest of the group seemed to care a great deal about the fallen wizard. The Beatrice, spent a few minutes inspecting the pit and peering below, planning a rescue attempt. Kohmai, who was still holding his spider-dung crate with one hand, with a simple “Excuse me, Miss” picked up the Hobbit by a leg with his other hand, and lowered her down to reach for Medea.
Meanwhile, Virgil was completely ignored. He remained at the edge of the pit, unable to climb up himself and receiving no aid from his companions. Finally, Kohmai helped him back up, just as Virgil’s feeble arms were about to give out.
Kohmai explained that he thought helping females was the priority based on cultures he had observed. “Should I have behaved differently?” he asked the group. The question seemed too complex to answer in a dark tunnel.
They were still on the wrong side of the pit and had to cross. Beatrice declared she didn’t need any “man” to take care of her, and skipped across the edge of the wall with agility, landing safety on the other side of the pit.
The Wizard, Sorcerer, and Hynerian sighed under their breaths, mumbling that they actually, probably, kind of needed a man. The Hynerian was somewhat thrown by Kohmai to Beatrice, and “no one should frelling mention this ever happening in the future if they don’t want their mivonks fed to a Budong”.
Medea attempted to jump across and tripped, tried to hold on to the edge and scraped her hand, falling again to the bottom of the pit. Kohmai jumped across, once again picked up the Hobbit by a leg, and played “Monkeys in a Barrel” to bring Medea back up.
Virgil was last. He attempted to inch himself across by tiptoeing where the edge of the pit met the wall, and failed once again. Getting a little frustrated, Kohmai jumped across the pit at the Sorcerer, preventing the him from falling in. He contemplated throwing Virgil across, or jumping with him, had the tunnel not been so narrow.
An imaginary light bulb appeared above his head. He remembered that in the previous room, where the strange console had sat, was an old table. “What if we use a table as a bridge over the pit?” Virgil liked this idea very much.
Have a Seat
Finally, the group made it to the other side of the pit and advanced further down the tunnel. At it’s exit, Beatrice was suddenly almost roasted alive when a large unexpected flame emerged from a large statue depicting a large protective-looking man. Using her agility, she dodged the flames and crept behind the statue to what appeared to be controls, trying to clear a path for her allies. Her knowledge of such devices told her that some of the knobs, wheels and switches at her disposal were booby trapped, but that didn’t stop her.
A first attempt backfired and she burned her hand badly. A second attempt made the flames stronger, almost lighting the wizard alight! Finally, she hit the correct control, and the statue deactivated, the flames subsided.
The rest of the group joined her into the room and discovered an area with five chairs placed in a circle. At the end of the room was a round white floor plate. Each was incredibly different from the other, except for one detail- each only has one armrest, on the right side.
The first chair that caught their attention right away, was constantly changing colour between pink and blue, and looked very formal. The second chair was Turquoise and brightly colored, a satin pattern of ocean views was embroided in the fabric. The third chair was comfortable and smelt homely, painted steel blue. The fourth chair was Tyrian purple, luxurious and a bit furry. The fifth chair was barely visible; he spectrum of colour that came off it was almost a glow and it hurt most of their eyes to look at it.
Feln Spark
The group realized that each chair seemed to have been matched exactly to their tastes and personalities. When they say down, an ghost image of a man’s bust and face appeared, floating in light. It spoke:
“Welcome, each of you.
If this image of myself has been activated, it means you now all sit before me. You have awakened here because my prayers to the Great Ones Above, have been thankfully heard.
I am Feln Spark, the etcher.
Years ago, myself and my colleague, Maulr Duzuaac, uncovered a secret stream of energy that flowed, from the seas, to the skies.
We spoke with the earths, the waters, the solar rays, the winds, we helped them learn our way as we learned theirs. I helped them incarnate themselves on our plane of life.
The Etchings were my life’s work. I developed and manifested into our world 37 of them, varying in power and type.
The Etchings caught the attention of the Great Ones Above, leading them to introduce themselves to us for the first time. We rejoiced in a new era of friendship and progress.
Of course, I know now that we went too far. The more we drew from the world, the more I etched, and the more our world broke apart. Even the Great Ones Above knew not how to manage this problem. Balance is something I learned from the world, but the rest of my kind, the fools, could not be taught. As I record this message, rips in the wallpaper of nature are stretching…though most are not yet aware of them. I argued that the etchings and the power of nature flowing from the seas to the skies should have been kept secret.
My colleague, Duzuaac disagreed with me greatly. Perhaps he is braver than I. He believes that our destiny, as mortal beings, is to uncover the powers of the world and bring about the destruction of reality as we know it. He believes the side-effects of the use of my etchings is a normal evolution of nature, that it will lead us to true greatness. He calls his promised land, the Sea of Stars, and refuses to hear reason. He doesn’t care how much devastation is caused.
I had no choice but to strip him of the Etchings he drew power from, and to leave him, retreating here…where I could plan for the worse.
You, my envoys, are my plan.
The Great Ones Above have retreated, and as you hear this message, I have also departed with them. I have done my best to lock away the Etchings, so that their energy cannot be abused any longer…the stretching of the tears, as far as I know, has been halted. Things could have gone on forever this way, but something has changed.
There are two things Duzuaac needs to open the Sea of Stars, he needs at least 14 of my etchings, and a great catalyst of power. If you, Envoys, have been summoned here, then Duzuaac has acquired one of these two keys, and you are the only ones that can stop him. I beg you to undergo this mission
…I realize you may be confused, this is not your world and you no doubt have ambitions wherever the Great Ones Above plucked you from…
I will aid you. To seal a bargain, I offer each of you one of my Etchings. The bargain can only be sealed if all 5 of you decide to come along. Five Envoys, 4 Messengers, and 1 Guardian. When you decide, each of you, right hand palm down on the right armrest of your chair. Continue to gather my Etchings, and gain the power you’ll need to defeat Duzuaac.”
The Etchings
The image disappeared, a bit of chaos ensued. Regor III hopped out of his chair and made large statements about how none of this great plan had anything to do with him.
Medea declared that of course a Wizard of the First Order it was only natural that she be needed such a task, and was happy to oblige. Kohmai placed his hand on his armrest without a word. The Hobbit seemed cautious, but her heart had already decided what she should do. As for Virgil, he remained uncertain.
“This is something we should think about seriously,” Beatrice said, trying to reason with him. “You were chosen and brought here for a purpose. Maybe this is the only way we can return to our homes anyway.”
“In any case,” said Kohmai, as the Hynerian obstinately crept to the opposite side of the room, where a similar statue to the one that had blocked their way previously, “we should think quickly. These tunnels will be flooded soon. If we want to turn around, now would be the time.”
“Exactly, so let’s leave,” said Regor III, zooming past the statue in his floating chair and triggering another flaming trap. He found himself trapped in a corner with two brands of fire blocking his path on either side.
A bit of kind-sounding blackmail occurred between the Hobbit and the Hynerian. Once he agreed to put his hand on his armrest, she attempted to deactivate the statue via the control panel, which like its twin, was at the back where Regor III could not reach.
Becoming impatient, Kohmai punched the statue instead with great strenght, sending the flame in another direction and clearing the path for Regor III.
They all sat on their destined chairs, and place a hand on their single armrests.
It stung! Something sharp and hot was drawing something on their hands, incredibly small and incredibly detailed. It hurt, but they could not move their hands away from the armrest.
The Etchings of Spark had been inscribed onto them.
KohMai received the Etching of Curiosity, the ability to tap in the knowledge of the world. Medea was given the Etching of Truth the power to detect lies and by insight, guess what a person is hiding.
Beatrice gained the Etching of Wilderness and could from then on communicate with animals.
Virgil received the Etching of Recovery the power to return any burnt object or person to the form they had before fire touched them, provided the etching is used within an hour of the moment fire first touched the subject. Regor was gifted with the Etching of Dickish Intentions, the ability to order someone to do something and expect to be obeyed, but only if he orders them not to do something.
The Wave Weaver
The ghostly image of Feln Spark reappeared:
“I thank you, Envoys. My Envoys.
To help you on your journey, I spent the last years of my life in this world building what you would need.
Take this key (a small object materialized out of the apparition and hovered in the air), and I hope you enjoy traveling with the Wave Weaver.”
The apparition disappeared.
Kohmai grabbed the key. After a bit of deliberation, they decided to return to the console in the previous room. The voice from earlier was still issuing alerts:
“Alert. Final Defense Scenario has been triggered. Alert. Total flooding of the storage gallery initiating in 2 minutes”
With a bit of a panic, the group searched the console for some sort of a key hole. Kohmai spotted an obviously looking slot, inserted the key and turned it.
A moment of silence stretched on for the sake of suspense.
“Key authorization detected. Access to all systems granted. Welcome aboard, Envoys of Spark.’’
Suddenly…their surroundings slightly vibrated, they heard noise below them. They felt as though the room they were standing in was moving.
“Ascension to the upper deck is highly recommended” Said the voice, which actually sounded a little proud of itself, as though was able to do something it has waited a long time to do.
The wall the left of the group opened, revealing a small stairwell.
They climbed the circular stairs and found themselves in a much larger room, lit by magical glow lights. They could feel waves and water rushing around them.
The heroes were in the inner hull of a moving ship!
Tune in next week for the next installment of The Envoys of Spark adventures!
