#30: Create Bonfire

conjuration cantrip (artificer, druid, sorcerer, warlock, wizard)

This spell creates a 5ft cube of fire (so one square on a battle map) and damages any creature inside it. It’s a minute long concentration spell and any creature in it must make a dexterity save or take 1d8 of fire damage.

Much like with Shocking Grasp, the stronger the caster, the stronger the spell.

Prompts:

Whumper binds the whumpee to a pole and Creates a Bonfire right where they’re standing. Restrained as they are, whumpee can’t dodge and takes the brunt of it. Perhaps whumper is punishing whumpee for acting out, or just it’s cold-blooded torture. If the whumper is a high level caster, it probably hurts a lot.

Whumpee is stranded on a deserted island, so they set off bonfires in the hopes of catching the attention of someone who will help them before they succumb to the elements. Are they found by a caretaker? Or are they found by a whumper?

Caretaker and whumpee are stuck in a frozen tundra after narrowly escaping whumper. Whumpee is injured and a blizzard is setting in, so they have to hunker down in a cave. To keep them warm, caretaker Creates a Bonfire, except they have to split their attention between maintaining the Bonfire and tending to whumpee while making sure that they don’t accidentally set a signal up for whumper to track them by.

“Praise the ancients you are okay!” Hunk looked shaken up from the trip, borderline tired at this point. Obviously, they had taken detours to get here. And while Coran wanted to lead them straight here. The rebels wanted to make sure they weren’t followed. 

“Come sit.” He instructed them, “I’ll get some water and much needed food into your system!” Hunk tiredly obeys Coran almost on instinct, settling down near a couch. 

The advisor looked around, expecting her to show up any minute to greet them. Coran had half expected her to come running to hug her Paladins.

#23: Forbiddance

6th level abjuration [ritual] (cleric)

Basically this spell makes up to a 40,000 square foot wide and 30 foot tall area cut off by means of teleportation and any form of planar travel and has the bonus of being able to make it that certain types of creatures (celestials, elementals, fey, fiends, and undead) are harmed by stepping foot in the spell’s area.

Furthermore, it’s possible for the caster to designate a password that exempts a creature from the spell’s negative affects. The spell lasts for 1 day and takes 10 minutes to cast. One Forbiddance zone can’t overlap another and if it’s cast on the same area every day for 30 days, the Forbiddance lasts until dispelled and the material components (a sprinkling of holy water, rare incense, ruby dust worth 1000 gp at least) are consumed by the final casting.

Prompts:

Whumper kidnaps a whumpee who isn’t one of the types of creatures a Forbiddance spell can harm and holds them captive in a fortified keep for a month, casting Forbiddance around the entire zone as wide as the zone can go around the keep. When the Forbiddance becomes permanent, they send word to caretaker--who is one of the affected creatures--drawing caretaker to the keep with a wager: if caretaker can reach whumpee--who is being held in the heart of the keep--than caretaker can take them home, but if they can’t by before a month has passed, than whumper gets to keep them. Caretaker is a very powerful entity, so they can take the constant damage that’s inflicted on them without succumbing right away, but they aren’t sure they can handle the full distance. While Forbiddance prevents planar travel into the zone, according to the spell description, it doesn’t prevent planar travel out. So every day for weeks, caretaker nearly, oh so nearly makes it to the heart of the keep. Close enough to see whumpee. But they don’t have enough strength to make it closer than that and are forced to teleport back outside the Forbiddance zone to recover. Meanwhile, whumper is toying with whumpee, torturing them and tormenting them with how caretaker is never going to reach them in time. The first few days, whumpee firmly doesn’t believe whumper, stubbornly clinging to their hope. However, every time whumpee sees caretaker stumble so close, so injured everyday that they’re forced to teleport just a mere 30ft from them. Salvation so close but so far every time. As the days turn to weeks, the deadline closing in, whumpee does start to lose hope.

Whumper wants information from caretaker but caretaker is notoriously hard to crack. So to make them give up the information whumper wants, they kidnap both whumpee and caretaker. They tie whumpee up in the center of the room and caretaker is chained in the corner on a length of chain too short for them to reach further than five feet from the wall. Whumpee is one of the effected creatures, so whumper sets up a Forbiddance zone around them, putting them through horrible pain that they can’t escape, bound in the Forbiddance zone. Whumper’s demand is that if caretaker gives up the information quickly, they’ll give whumpee the password they need to make the pain stop. And if caretaker doesn’t give up the information, whumper will let whumpee dangle on the cusp of death before dragging them out of the small Forbiddance zone and start up all over again tomorrow and the day after that and the day after that until caretaker finally cracks.

Whumper is one of the affected creatures and whumpee escaped them just barely. To protect themself, whumpee set up a Forbiddance Zone. Except whumper was right on their tail so whumper finds them except they can’t get inside the zone, so instead they stalk the edges, waiting. Every day, whumpee has to recast the Forbiddance zone, and every day whumper gets a little closer. The zone wasn’t that big to begin with, maybe 200-300ft across and it shrinks by about 5ft every day as whumper forces whumpee to pull the boarders back a little every day. They don’t know what they’re going to do when the zone becomes permanent in a month and if it gets small enough that whumper can come in and drag them out without getting too badly hurt by the spell. And drag them back into their own personal hell.

Caretaker has set up a large Forbiddance zone that keeps out all the listed creatures. As such, they get a lot of victimized whumpees seeking shelter there from their whumpers. Some come with their own caretakers, others stumble in alone. Some eventually recover enough that they move on, but some never feel safe enough to leave and put down roots in the one place they’ve been in in a long time that they felt safe. Maybe years later, when the settlement has grown to a moderate size, the whumpers find the settlement and one of them brings a 6th level Dispel Magic with them.

"Hey, so you really did survive."

The security Reploid glanced up when he heard the familiar voice, simply nodding after a moment and turning his gaze back to the technology magazine he'd been reading on a datapad to pass time. Though he showed no signs of wanting to try to stand up, his optics were clear, no longer hazed with the beginnings of static and looming with death.

"Wow," Axl said, moving to drag a chair up next to the other Reploid's bedside and trying not to wrinkle his nose. He hated hospitals and medbays, they always carried such a sickeningly clean yet somehow sour odor. "What a friendly greeting. Good to see you too." Still, it was a relief, in a way, to see Skrah acting his usual stoic self. It felt normal.

"I'll be stuck here at least another week," Skrah said, placing his datapad on his lap and shifting to lean his back against the wall at the head of the bed. "My core is back in one piece though."

"That's generally a good thing." Even so, Axl couldn't help but let his gaze fall on the other Reploid's bare chest, on the long scar that ran from his left shoulder to the bottom right side of his ribcage.

"It doesn't hurt any more," Skrah pointed out quietly when Axl continued to stare for several long moments. "Synth skin patches aren't exactly well-stocked right now. It's just a scar."

"I know," Axl sighed. "But it only happened because you were protecting me."

To his surprise, Skrah shook his head patiently, his eyes betraying far more emotion than his unwavering expression. "That was my choice and you know it. Besides, you're easily distracted. Someone has to pay attention for you."

For a split second Axl felt offended, until he noticed the faint glow of amusement in his friend's eyes. "You know," the gunner said with a weak smile, "if you're going to crack a joke, the least you could do is pretend to look amused."

"Why's that?"

"Asimov you're impossible..."

"I know. So what's next?"

"I..." Axl hesitated, finding himself back in their escape, trapped in that moment of terror when everyone had stared him in the face and expected him to know exactly what to do, exactly how to save them. "I don't know," he replied after a long pause. "A lot of these Reploids don't have anywhere to go any more. No jobs or families left, or homes to go back to, or...anything like that." His lips twitched in a frown. "If I tell them all to leave and fend for themselves, they'll just get arrested again.

He folded his hands in his lap, drawing a soft sigh and closing his eyes. "For now, anyway, the ones who have no need to be hospitalized are staying in Donnelsbury. It's not perfect, but-"

"Donnelsbury?" Skrah interrupted. "Axl, that city was destroyed and abandoned years ago."

"Exactly," Axl said. "Anacua's on our side for the most part, but relations still aren't exactly at an all-time high. We need someplace where we can lay low and not worry about being questioned by every human that walks past."

"So you're going someplace with no humans," Skrah said with a thoughtful nod. "Is there enough of the city left to be a viable place to stay?"

"We found a block of apartments that seem to be intact," Axl replied. "And a couple pretty big warehouses. There's a group of Reploids checking for structural integrity there now, I said I'd meet them for a report this evening."

Skrah nodded, deciding not to voice what was on the forefront of his mind- that what these Reploids really needed, almost more than they needed a place to stay, was someone to take charge and give them guidance. Nor did he voice that it was plain to anyone's eyes how naturally Axl had taken up that role. "In that case, what are you doing all the way out here?"

"I dunno, I missed you and wanted to make sure you weren't dead?" Axl couldn't help but crack a grin, reaching over to rap his knuckles against his friend's temple. "Too bad that blow to the core didn't fix your lack of ability to emote and socialize."

"I'm rusty," was the dry response. "Besides, you want me skipping around with a basket of flowers tossing roses at people and preaching love and peace?"

That earned a full laugh from the redhead, and Skrah's lips twitched in the faintest hint of something that was almost a smile. "God you're such an asshole," Axl snickered. "Sometimes I wonder how I put up with you."

"The feeling's mutual."

It suddenly hit Axl like a punch to the chest how much he'd missed this- how badly he'd been longing for someone to jest and snark with. It also hit him in an even harder pang how much he didn't want to lose it.

"I should rest," Skrah piped up before Axl could find the words to voice any of what he was thinking. "My core levels are still readjusting themselves."

"I'll hang here a while," Axl said. "This is about the only time I've had off in the past few days."

Skrah merely nodded, perhaps sensing Axl's need for some peace and quiet to collect his thoughts, and lay down on his back, soon slipping into a doze. Axl allowed his mind to drift for a while, soothed by watching the slow, steady rise and fall of his friend's chest as he slept.

Asimov, I don't want to lose you...

Truth be told, Axl thought as he leaned back in his chair and let his eyes drift halfway shut, the last thing he wanted to do was face everything alone. They were far from truly free, after all. Not with the anti-synthetic sentiment spreading so far. Not with numerous other arenas still out there, countless Reploids still trapped and scared and fighting for their lives.

The more he thought about it, the more Axl knew that there were few other people he'd be so pleased to fight alongside.

Still...he couldn't help but wonder if it would even be right to ask someone to risk themselves like that. To risk everything so soon after finally getting a taste of freedom.

Was it selfish of him, he wondered, to want to ask as much?

One way or another, he was jerked from his thoughts a minute later by a startlingly loud cry, the sound full of a mix of pain and fear that Axl had never heard this particular Reploid express aloud before. The gunner was quick to shift as though to shake his friend awake, only to pull his hand away when Skrah rather suddenly pushed himself into a sitting position and clasped his hands to his bare chest.

"You alright?" Axl asked after what felt like an awkwardly long silence.

Skrah nodded slowly, his breaths still coming in too-shallow pants and pain clear on his features. "Just a nightmare," he said quietly. "My core levels spiked; they're stabilizing out. Slowly."

To Axl's surprise, Skrah's expression gradually eased from pain into utter exhaustion, his violet eyes holding more emotion than he could- or would- ever voice out loud. "I keep waking up thinking I'm back there, Axl," he murmured. "The...the paranoia hasn't stopped."

The gunner hesitantly opened his mouth, only to remain silent when Skrah continued to speak after a moment's pause. "You're right, you know. If they all just go their own way, they'll end up right back where they started. Any of us could. We're not..." For a split second, the former gladiator's voice almost seemed to waver. "We're not really free yet, are we?"

In that instant, all of Axl's courage and will to speak up suddenly deserted him, leaving him sitting with his mouth open and his gaze slightly blank, as though he was lost in thought. A strange kind of fear settled itself in the pit of his stomach, cold terror in a way he'd never experienced before.

"Axl?" Skrah prompted quietly. "Something on your mind?"

"I..." Axl's eyes seemed to clear, and he blinked several times as he snapped back to reality. "No, I'm alright," he said, something in the back of his mind knowing that he was lying through his teeth.

He stood up, straightening and clearing his throat quietly. "I should head back to Donnelsbury before everyone gets antsy. They should be done scouting soon anyway."

To his surprise- and maybe a little fear- Skrah fixed him with a long, hard stare, his violet eyes dark with seriousness and unreadably calm. "All right," the former gladiator said at last. "I should rest a bit longer while I can. Ping me your coordinates. I'll meet you there tomorrow."

"You're not-"

"I know," was the flat response. "And you know that I'm not just going to sit on my ass. Now don't waste the time arguing about it with me and go get to work instead."

"You..." Asimov, that stubborn frown and stern tone, the concern behind the stoicism and near-lectures, that...reminded him far too much of Zero. And as he nodded mutely and turned to head out of the room, Axl couldn't help but wonder if that meant that he, himself, reminded people of X.