#depthcrawl

The Gardens of Ynn,

Depth 8: The Burnt Tower, The Free Flame

Tired of attempting finesse, Drum gave up on the lock and instead struck at the glass side of the lantern cage. It shattered in a burst of shards, and the burning amphibian wasted no time in crawling its way out, wrapping around the ornate spire atop its former prison.

"Aha! Free at last, oh how wonderful, how Glorious. I feel renewed, reinvigorated, I simply must relish this."

As it spoke, it puffed up in excitement and seemed to grow larger and larger. Around the sides of the plaza, the shadows seemed to strain away from the burning light that was growing increasingly intense.

"Oh, poor darlings, they know I will burn them, but they are drawn to my light all the same, they cannot resist the allure of everything they are not."

The salamander was now the size of Durm, if not already larger. It looked down and saw the look of worry in his face. Its voice was growing deep and rough, like the boom and crackle of burning logs.

"I promised I would not hurt you, little minstrel, but I would hasten you on your way, before my flames do you harm in spite of myself. I fear I can only hold for so long."

As it said that, the wrought iron lamppost began to buckle and twist under its heat and weight. Durm reached down to grab the elixir from under the tiles. Just that proximity to the creature now of pure flame was enough to singe him. Its burning tail pointed back to the far corner of the maze.

"Go! Walk through the hedge and keep going. Goodspeed to you, Flame Friend."

Durm ran for the hidden exit, bursting through the gap in the fence and kept running along the narrow shortcut that ran through the hedge maze. The hedge maze that was quickly catching fire as a mad cackle filled the air.

The shortcut stopped at a sudden cut off, where the hedge maze gave way to a large clearing, seemingly already burned black. It was a crater, centred on a tower, somehow still standing. This was where the star had fallen. Spread all through the blackened landscape were small pieces of alabaster, standing out from the black, spread out in a perfectly symmetrical pattern.

Last time: Durm tried to free the Salamander.

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The Gardens of Ynn

Depth 7: The Starburst Maze, An Unlucky Break

Taking the Salamander up on its offer, Durm fetched out his old dagger and approached the lamp to try and pick the cage lock. Behind him, the glowing jellyfish continued to hover aimlessly around his only means of exit. Around him, the shadows that lined the hedge walls of this garden plaza continued to dance in place to the lanterns light, despite the bodies that shaped them being long dead.

The Salamander peered down at him, continuing to chatter aimlessly about a dozen topics and none. Durm didn’t listen though, as he needed to focus on picking the lock. He wasn’t trained at lockpicking, being more at home with catching those that were. He tried to just calmly insert the point of his narrow dirk into the keyhole and twist.

Click. For a second Durm though he heard the lock open. Instead, he felt a broken half of his blade break off and fall at his feet. He could sense the shuffling around the corners of his eyes as the shadows around him began to grow restless.

Then he heard the sound of gears again and looked back to see the opening in the hedge he had entered through, slowly begin to slide shut again.

Looking down at where the blade had fallen, Durm could see the glint of glass under a broken mosaic tile. It was the elixir the Salamander had promised him as payment. He could simply take it now and leave before this exit closed. But then there was the jellyfish, and the shadows being held back by the light of the Salamander's fire.

Last time: Durm negotiated with the Salamander.

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The Gardens of Ynn

Depth 7: The Starburst Maze, A Shrewd Bargain

The Salamander had finally stopped talking and was looking at Durm expectantly. It pointed at the lock of its cage and jolted the surrounding shadows with another brief pulse of light to make a point. Despite himself, Durm couldn’t help but take a liking to this strange creature, although he didn’t take kindly to blackmail.

Durm told the Salamander that it appeared it needed him more than he needed him, besides, what guarantee did he have that it would not simply abandon him once freed. It replied:

"Oh, believe me, a salamander has no use for deception or trickery. My current entrapment aside, I am a creature of refinement and status. You may trust my word as you would that fire burns. Besides this, you appear between a rock and a hard place currently. But never fear, for I have seen the use of a secret exit from here, heading right towards the centre of the maze. Free me and I will get you out of here."

Durm was about to reply, but then turned around to see the wasp that had swarmed the exit behind him simply fly away down a labyrinthine passageway. Durm looked back at the now slightly flustered Salamander.

"Oh well, perhaps to sweeten the pot, I may throw in a slight trinket to the deal. Imbedded beneath the tiles under my cage is a small elixir. Upon drinking it, you will become transparent and unseeable for a short moment. It is yours if you open up my cage."

Then Durm noticed a faint change in the tint of the light, as it gained and lost a shine of florescent colours like waves in motion. Looking back, he saw a large glowing jellyfish floating in the air as if it was water, the tips of its tentacles trailing along the ground. Behind him, Durm heard the Salamander mutter.

"This I must admit, not even I have seen this before.

Last time: Durm woke up the Salamander.

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The Gardens of Ynn

Depth 7: The Starburst Maze, A Show of Light

Stood midway to the centre of the garden plaza, in between the sleeping lizard lantern and the wasps that swarmed his only exit. Whatever lizard was burning in the lantern seemed to be sleeping. Durm thought again to the snake charmers and to his flute and tried to play a tune to wake it up without needing to get closer.

The burning lizard awoke softly to the music and gave Durm a drowsy look, and then spoke in a small voice that sounded like it ought to wear small spectacles:

"Ahh! A Pimpleian waltz, much prized for its melodic elegance. A most enjoyable way to wake up I must say. I take it you are a troubadour, a balladeer, an artiste of the aeolian charm and a devotee of the grace of Euterpe."

Before Durm could form a coherent reply, it continued:

"Oh, forgive my impropriety, though I may not be here of my own free will, I remain the closest thing to a host for you currently. Therefore, I have you at a disadvantage and so owe you an introduction. I am a Salamander, a prince of fire, though I am currently reduced to a mere implement of illumination."

Durm hesitated a second too long in responding and was yet again interrupted. The Salamander puffed itself up as if to make a point, and the shadows recoiled as one at the sudden bloom of light that filled the space for a second.

"I'm guessing an illustrious gentleman such as yourself would prefer not to find out what happens should my light diminish."

Looking behind Durm, it noted tangentally about the wasps:

"In case your were curious, the parasitic wasp lays its eggs in a living or recently dead creature, where they then emerged when sated."

It then pointed its burning tail against the glass door of its cage and at the small lock hanging from it, expectantly.

Last time: Durm investigated the lamp and shadows.

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The Gardens of Ynn

Depth 7: The Starburst Maze, Flicker of the Light

{Content warning for descriptions of parasitic insects}

Durm walked into the mosaic laid plaza hidden within the hedge maze, his feet still not touching the ground. He had left the bodies back by the archway opened by the gears they had been blocking.

Looking at the pattern on the floor it was a swirl spiralling out from the lantern pole in the centre. It broke down further into a fractal pattern of small, repeated figures. They appeared to be lizards or salamanders, swimming around each other to form the great pattern.

As he moved towards the centre of the plaza, Durm kept an eye on the four shadows that lined the hedge walls. They appeared to be the shadows cast by people not otherwise present in the room. They each had a weapon drawn, but they might not have been in the fighting pose that Durm took them to be. Each of them was facing the light in the centre, and Durm noticed they were not in fact still.

Swaying ever so slightly, they appeared awestruck and fascinated by the light of the lantern. As Durm reached about halfway towards the centre of the room, he noticed the head of the nearest shadow turn to face him shortly, before returning its stare to the lamp.

Looking closer at the lamp, what had looked like a large burning ember appeared to be breathing, in slow calm breaths. From the closer view Durm saw it to be a curled up sleeping creature. It was a pale but warm orange colour, about the size of a housecat. It looked like a lizard of some sort, with fiery fronds extending from its neck.

Durm snapped to look behind him as he heard the bodies at the entrance begin to move. They were each shaking and convulsing despite being clearly dead. Then something burst its way out of the mouth of one, then the other, then the rest. Four large wasps, one from each body, converged in a small swarm over the bodies, seemingly giving Durm no mind, but blocking his exit.

Last time: Durm found the lamp and shadows.

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The Gardens of Ynn

Depth 7: The Starburst Maze, In Stopped Motion

Durm shook himself out of the shock of seeing the display of gore and looked at the bodies wedged into the gears churning within the hedge. Trying to see a way to remove them, it didn’t look that difficult. It appeared they had been simply crammed in, either to hide them or to stall the machine.

The trick to pulling them out was to jar the gears on other ways to loosen their grip. Then it was simply a matter of leverage, pushing them down. For each body removed, the gears moved that much freer and more regular. As he worked, he could spy a faint glow through the thick hedge.

It was only after removing the last body that Durm noticed what had been off about them. As they lay on the ground, the dancing light of Durm's torch cast no shadow from them on the ground. They also looked freshly dead and still stiff.

As he pondered this, the liberated chorus of ticks seemed to synchronize into a final simultaneous tock, and then stopped. Then with a great rumbling and shaking of leaves, the hedge opened up to reveal a small enclosure within the maze.

The area was mostly bare with an intricate mosaic patterned floor. The only other feature was a large but dim lantern post on the middle of the space. Instead of candles or oil, the light of the lamp seemed to be from a red-hot coal burning in the glass casing. It gave off a low but steady light, and it was only thanks to it that Durm noticed the other feature of the room.

Along the hedges that enclosed the space around the lamp, as if printed onto the foliage by the light of the ember, were shadows. As if caught in mid motion, standing around the light, was projected the silhouettes of four figures. They were each posed as if on guard for an attack.

Last time: Durm found bodies stuck in gears.

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The Gardens of Ynn

Depth 7: The Starburst Maze, Caught in the Works

Tracking where the plume of smoke from where the star had fallen into the hedge maze, Durm entered through the archway opening. The hedges were tall and dark, blocking out most of the moonlight above, so Durm lit his second torch.

Remembering an old piece of advice about mazes, he kept his hand against the left wall, careful of the thorns that sometimes stuck out. This he did for some time, going in and out of dead ends and making his way around in big tangles. He trusted the method however and slowly felt the glimpses he got of the plume in the sky grow closer. He could smell the faint smell of smoke and ... something else. It smelled like the sound of clinging a crystal glass. Stern and clean and sad.

Gradually, in and out through his winding way about the labyrinth, he could hear a ticking sound, sharp and regular. Tick tick tick tick. Over time it was joined by others, some higher pitch or deeper, some faster or slower. All regular and unerring. Then he began to see them.

Gears. Durm first spied them deep inside hedge walls, having triangulated them as the source of the sounds. At that point they had collected into a true cacophony of noise from all sides of the narrow and dark passages. He was half tempted to deviate from his left-hand path to find a reprieve from them, but then he heard, through it all a difference.

In the way he was heading, he heard a different ticking. This one was laboured, irregular and unlike all the ticking that had come before it. It carried a sense of deep wrongness. Nevertheless, Durm continued towards it.

As he turned the next corner, he saw what had disturbed the ticking. Bodies. Four dead bodies had been crammed into the spaces between exposed gears in the hedge walls. They had been crushed and mangled as the gears still not kept trying to resume their orderly functions. Durm hoped they had already been dead when it happened.

Last time: Durm chased the fallen star.

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