From: Twistspore Lashcap 947
Quest Giver: An outlawed alchemist searching for the forbidden ingredients of a coercion draught.
Location: Crystal caves whose walls hum with psychic resonance, attracting the Lashcap to grow among broken chains.
Objective: Secure intact Lashcap caps before rival harvesters get them first.
Reward: A vial of experimental Subjugant Elixir, dangerous but powerful in turning foes docile for a short time.
Instructions (non-sequential, field-use notes)
• Treat the crystal caverns as a living instrument: intent gets amplified. Keep speech soft, avoid imperatives, and use hand signs.
• Carry silence kit: wrapped buckles, soft soles, felted tool-rolls, narrow-shutter lamps, sand pouches for floor hush, cloth wedges for rails, and bone/wood knives for Lashcap.
• Hum mapping: in each chamber, “listen-print” the room—exhale, count how many returns you hear off the facets. More returns = higher risk of coercive feedback and chain-song triggers.
• Chain etiquette: broken chains embedded in the walls hum when touched; never lift them bare. Use rope slings or wooden pries; cover chain runs with canvas before passing.
• Harvest discipline: slide a flat slat beneath the cap, cut above the gill-tongues with bone/wood, seat live-side up on damp moss, interleave with parchment, and lid immediately. Direct lamplight is fine; direct sunlight at exit ruins the phonic quality.
• Shard safety: wear eye protection; drape work areas with canvas to catch splinters; never strike crystal—tap with leather-wrapped hafts. Falling shard scree sounds like rain and will domino into a room-wide chime.
• Air checks: drift-candle or feather in every new gallery; some prisms trap low-oxygen pockets that snuff flame without wind. Mark and bypass.
• Magnetic seams: certain veins tug on buckles, hooks, and chain; expect involuntary clinks. Swap to rope ties in those zones.
• Spore and scent control: veil or scarf for mouth/nose; keep samples shaded and cool; a vinegar rag neutralizes contaminated tools, but don’t air vinegar near packed caps (it flattens the echo).
• Rival countermeasures: expect decoy “salted” caps and clatter traps. Verify with scent (pepper-iron) and a gentle tap-listen for the inner hum before cutting. Disarm traps by sand-sprinkling and cloth-wrapping loose rails.
• Pathing: favor maintenance crawls and fissures over grand galleries; cross open floors on diagonal arcs to avoid “focus points” where sound converges.
• Extraction discipline: designate a carrier who does not speak in high-hum rooms, and a shadow-checker who watches lids, moss moisture, and grit on gills. Pre-stage a shaded tarp lane to the exit.
Gold Reward
• 64 Gold on success (14 Gold advance for supplies; 50 Gold upon delivery of intact, viable caps). Discreet 8 Gold bonus if you provide proof a rival crew was diverted without casualties.
Uncommon Magical Reward (in addition to the Subjugant Elixir)
• Null-Tone Filigree (uncommon, neck or ear slot). Passive: +2 on checks/saves versus echo-borne compulsion and disorientation; faint cool thrum warns when a chamber’s resonance crosses a dangerous threshold. Active (1/day): dampen a 10-foot radius for 1 minute—spoken sounds within are reduced to murmurs and cannot trigger crystal-echo hazards or chain-song.
Difficulties
• Resonance nodes where a whisper becomes a shout; any sharp sound may rebound as a coercive pulse.
• Shardfalls cascaded by a single careless tap; splinters cut lines and puncture containers.
• Chain-song: embedded links “sing” under vibration and can mirror command tones back at the party.
• Prism mazes that bend light and create false approach angles; easy to walk into a focus point.
• Low-oxygen pockets beneath collapsed ribs; candles die, focus slips.
• Magnetic seams pulling at metal, birthing clink-chains that travel room to room.
• Rival harvesters laying clatter traps and salting lookalike caps.
• Echo-feeding vermin and blind cave beasts attracted to dominance posture or victory shouts.
• Slippery calcite ramps; a slide becomes percussion.
• Crystal “whistle slits” that turn lamplight drafts into piercing tones.
Problems
• The alchemist is outlawed and watched; patrols on the approaches can turn a quiet run into a legal snare if you leave distinctive kit.
• A guild-backed rival team holds a map fragment to a high-yield gallery and will race schedules by forcing shardfalls behind them.
• The Subjugant Elixir is volatile; rough transport or sunlight exposure near delivery can sour it and earn only partial payment.
• Some caps “remember” cruelty—addressed harshly, they clamp to stone and begin to shed potency.
• An old chain hoist groans at specific loads; too many avatars on the platform toll the cavern like a bell.
• Crystal lice (tiny cutters) chew moss liners; unattended baskets lose moisture and viability.
• A smugglers’ broker wants a cut and may leak your route to rivals if not appeased.
• A collapsed prism rib reroutes air; hum maps shift mid-run and patrol loops desynchronize.
Who to Ask for More Information
• Lyric acousticians: quick tricks to find anti-nodes, cloth placement, and safe crossing arcs.
• Pit riggers and chainwrights: how to pin or sleeve chain runs so they won’t chime.
• Miners’ Guild surveyors: old maintenance fissures that bypass grand galleries and oxygen-poor pockets.
• Apothecary fungists: moss grades, parchment treatments, and how to test for the inner hum without bruising caps.
• Smuggler quartermasters: shaded exit routes, tarp handoff stations, and how to pass gate checks with “kitchen waste.”
• Shrine wardens of the crystal cults: rites that calm echo feedback without invoking commands.
Tags
Tier 1, Stealth, Echo Hazard, Crystal Scree, Chain-Song, Rival Crew, Low Oxygen, Spore Safety, Magnetic Interference, Time Pressure, Nonlethal Preference, Contraband, Prism Refraction, Shardfall Mitigation, Anti-Node Mapping, Chain-Sleeve Rigging, Canvas Damping, Whisper-Slit Drafts, Moss Viability, Parchment Interleaving, Load-Sensitive Hoist, Smuggler Handoff
Environments (simple list)
• Humming prism mouth with chain stubs
• Narrow maintenance crawl behind glittering ribs
• Shard-scree slope under a cracked gallery
• Magnetic vein corridor that tugs at buckles
• Prism maze with shifting light and false paths
• Chainfall balcony overlooking a resonance node
• Low-oxygen sump where candles die without wind
• High-yield lashcap alcove set in blood-stained crystal
• Rival camp cut into a side fissure
• Tarped postern and shaded handoff niche
Mood setting excerpt from:
Compendye of Red Remembraunce and Water-Woe
Capitulum XLII
“How the Shard y-Lerneth a Voyce, and how the Chaine Singeth agayns the Proud”
Lo, who-so creepeth by the prisoun-steps under the hill, where the rocke is all glased as a wyndowe and the aire goth thin as a blade, shal fynde a cave of cristals that humme as though an hive were hidden in stone. There ben linkes of yren half-swallowed in the wall, cheynes as if gnawed by frost and memorie bothe; and whan a man layeth finger thereon with maisterful chere, anon the linkes be stirred and answer in a little song, which song groweth gretter by leaping from facet to facet, til the whole herte of the chamber biddeth him “knele” withoute a mouth to bidde. Therfore have I writ: “Here comaunde is a boomerang, and prayer is a key.”
In suche places the shard knoweth men’s wordes better than men knowe them; for a whispre goeth forth as a mote and cometh ageyn a wasp. If ye say “go,” the cristall turneth it rounde as a turning-spit, and sendeth “go” upon thy owne heele, so that thy bones fele the bidding in thy sinew. But if thou say “by your leve,” soft as broth on lippe, then the wall drinketh it and is still. I have seen, quod the auctour, a proud captaine stampe and crye, and his crye came backe y-harded, and his knee unbent him nat til the echo had done with him.
Take kepe to the sharde-rain, that falleth at a little touche as glass-snow; for firste it tinkeleth merrily, and next it ringeth like harpe-strings cut, and last it y-waketh the Chain-Songe, which is a malison. Many a brave hose hath y-bled by shivers as by knyves, and baskets broke, and the red burgeon y-cleped Lash-cap turned flatt for over-breathing of the air sourd with vynegre. In the marge of the leaf is set this remembraunce: “Wrap thy haft with lether, and never smyt stone to prove it; for the stone hath better memorie than thyn hande.”
Knowe also the places where breath is a miser: summe low sumps, smooth as the inside of a shell, stele the flame from a candell with no wynd felt. Ther a man’s thoght runneth slow as cold oyle, and his knes sayen ‘nay’ to steppes that his will sayeth ‘yea.’ Our craft biddeth: test with fether ere foot, and let the feete of thy wordes be broken, nat even; for even pace and even speche ben the hammer and the anvil whereon the cave beateth bondage.
Yit the burgeon groweth there, red as yren wetted, among links black as sorrow. It cleaveth close where two shards meete and make a sharp V, and it loveth the sounde that is almost no sounde. If thou touche it with hast or in lordship, it closeth its lytel mouthes and sheddeth its vertue as a maiden her teeres, and is but meate. If thou touche it with boon blade and mosse-bed redy, and say “leve,” it suffereth to be lifte live-side up, like a child from a thorn-bush. Sonne is his fo, day is his thief; cover it anon as thou wouldest cover shame.
Men tellen also of a hoist with a throat of chain, that groaneth numbers. If overmany souls step upon his plank, he counteth aloud and calleth watchers by counting; if ye lighten him with rope and parcel, he holdeth his peace like a monk at meat. And beware the smugglers’ notch, where a broker keepeth tally with both hands—one to guide, one to betray. He loveth a purse that clinketh, and if it clink too proud, the magnet vein in the floor pulleth buckles sideward and setteth all a-chatter, as sparowes at chaffe.
Of rivals is wryten thus: they salt the path with false caps, fair to the eye and dead to the ear; tap them nat with yren, lest the chamber take thy knok for a trumpet. Rather lay a cloth, breathe once, and hark for the lytel inward hum, which is the true heartbeat of the burgeon. And if ye must passe a grand galerie, go aslant, with sand from thy palm upon the step, and thy ladder be rope, nat chain; for chain in this place hath tonge and gossipeth.
Here endeth the warnyng of the shard and the chain. Who cometh hither for pride shall goe thence as a tale tolde by his owne echo; who cometh for task with meek hande and careful foot shall be let forth with treasure living, and the cave shal holde its peace as a house that sleepeth after prayer.
Guide Manager’s notes: The Shards of Obedience 293
- Mission framing and operating rules
Set expectations fast: stealth-first, non-imperative speech in high-hum areas, no metal on the fungus, and zero shard strikes. The outlawed alchemist’s involvement means legal heat on the approaches—avoid distinctive kit and keep provenance murky. - Roles, kit, and slot sanity
Assign roles: point (pathfinder), carrier (specimen custodian), shadow-checker (integrity audits), rear (trap watch). Load soft soles, wrapped buckles, felted tool-rolls, narrow-shutter lamps, sand pouches, cloth wedges, bone/wood knives, wicker with damp moss, parchment separators, shaded tarp. Containers count toward worn slot limits; contents inside do not. - Approach vectors and cover
Offer two clean entries and one risky shortcut: surveyor fissure (tight but quiet), chainfall balcony (fast with rail rattle), smugglers’ notch (patrolled but direct). Pair each with a plausible cover item (chalking rod, ledger scrap, empty moss crate) for gate or corridor scrutiny. - Resonance primer on site
Before committing, run a 10-second “listen-print”: exhale once, count returns off the facets. Mark loud foci on the sketch. Teach the team that more repeats = higher coercive feedback risk and chain-song likelihood. - Chain etiquette and routing
Embedded links hum under touch. Sleeve exposed runs with canvas before passing, pry with wood, and never lift bare. Route diagonally across open chambers to dodge focus points where reflections converge. - Air and flame protocols
In each new gallery: drift-candle or feather test, then hood check. Tag low-oxygen pockets on the map and bypass. Require lamp shutters at all times; a grit gust snuffs flames and your shout becomes a room problem. - Magnetic seam detection
Flick a buckle at rest; if it tugs, you’re in a magnet vein. Swap every metallic fastener to rope ties and lash tools inside cloth. Expect involuntary clink cascades if you ignore the tell. - Shardfall mitigation in motion
Leather-wrap hafts, drape canvas under work, and sand-sprinkle footfalls before crossing bright floors. No tapping stone “to be sure”—in this dungeon, the stone remembers better than you do. - Voice hygiene and echo parasites
Demonstrate a delayed replay early: an old shout returns from behind. From now on, raised voices seed future complications. If sound is unavoidable, use rounded-mouth humming—low edge, low risk. - Finding the real caps
Positive tells: pepper-iron scent, faint internal hum on a gentle tap through cloth, Lashcap that stills under calm attention. Red flags: salted decoys with flat silence, “spite-bloom” twitch near harsh tone, vinegar air that flattens phonic quality. Use the Mind’s Eye “identify” through a proper focus to confirm before cutting. - Harvest micro-procedure (strict)
Slide a flat slat beneath the cap, cut above gill-tongues with bone/wood, seat live-side up on damp moss, interleave parchment, lid immediately. Direct lamplight is fine; direct sunlight on exit ruins the echo. Never scrape. Never breathe vinegar near packed specimens. - Chain-of-custody discipline
Carrier does not speak in high-hum rooms. Shadow-checker audits at every zone change: inner hum present, moss cool, no grit on gills, lid seal clean. Any failure triggers a repack in shade before moving. - Rival crew management
Expect clatter traps (tin lines, rail rattles) and salted caps. Counter with cloth-wrapped rails, sanded steps, and verification taps through cloth. If contact is forced, make it brief and quiet—deny them sound, not blood. - Hoist and platform sanity
The load-sensitive chain hoist “counts” riders by groan. Pre-plan capacity; if it sings too many, offload by rope. Wedge rails with leather, not spikes. If the hoist tolls, abort and shift to the postern with the tarp lane. - Emergency drills
• Shardfall: freeze, shield lamp with cloak, wait for the long ring to die; do not run.
• Chain-song: stop all movement, damp with canvas, whisper a non-imperative easing phrase, then backtrack diagonally.
• Low-oxygen fade: retreat to the last positive feather test; no heroics.
• Vinegar spill: evacuate samples upwind; any nearby caps require integrity retest or replacement. - Spore and scent control
Veils or wrapped scarves on all cutters; keep specimens shaded and cool. If tools bead spore or sap, wipe with water first, then minimal vinegar away from containers. Crystal lice chew moss—inspect liners often and rotate fresh moss from a sealed pouch. - Path recalibration mid-run
Hum maps shift when prism ribs collapse or air reroutes. If your “listen-print” changes, pause to redraw the safe arcs and anti-nodes. Patrol loops desynchronize when resonance spikes—expect rivals or beasts to drift off schedule. - Extraction lane pre-stage
Before the last cut, prep the way out: cloth-wedged gates, sanded steps, canvas sleeves on any chain crossings, and a shaded tarp corridor to the exit. Assign the talker for gate checks; the carrier stays silent and hands off containers through cloth, never into sun. - Handoff and heat management
At the tarped postern, perform a final integrity check (hum, temp, grit). Use a bland cover (kitchen waste, broken glass sweepings) for any watchful eyes. Strip distinguishing wraps and swap to mundane cordage before street level to shed provenance. - Debrief and consequences
On success, log what worked: which chambers were hot, which anti-nodes held, where magnet seams tugged, and any rival tells. Note legal ripples from aiding an outlaw; keep network chatter minimal until the heat cools. - Partial success levers
If one cap “went flat,” the alchemist can attempt a reduced-power brew or request a short follow-up pull from a secondary alcove. If rivals got there first, mapped hush lanes and anti-nodes still hold value—trade intel for future favors if you choose not to re-enter. - Safety and tone guardrails
Drive tension with acoustics, timing, and precision play, not spectacle. When players slip, let the cavern answer with sound problems and time pressure instead of severe injury. Reward careful language, diagonal routes, and cloth-and-sand prep with smooth progress. - Replay and escalation knobs
On return visits, rotate resonance foci, move magnet veins, add whistle slits to drafts, change rival tactics (decoys vs. ambush), and increase hush tech available (better dampening cloth, improved ear slots) so the challenge stays about mastery, not luck.