The Silent Audience

The Silent Audience
Date	6/16/2025
Storyteller	Foster
Tier	Trainee
Player Characters	Quill, Sabelle Regalia, Swaying Petals, Karage, Arumi
Rewards	250exp, 35g, 3 Scrolls of Silence (Rank 2), 2 Eyes of Enlightenment (sold)
Result	Success(?)
Author	Arumi (Aru)
Downtime	3

Associates perform an ill-fated wellness check on an elderly elf.

(The following report is written cleanly and with crisp penmanship)

06:12:32 – Day 1

As the scribe for this expedition, I have elected to leave early. The meeting place for this investigation is near Desperate Hope – a little less than a day’s walk south of Onadbyr. Assuming that the rest of the associates will be making their own way there, I have elected to travel the roads by myself and will be departing shortly after informing my family and making last minute preparations.

(a short addendum to this written in small print reads: met Karage on the road – will continue with them)

17:48:12 – Day 1

I have arrived at Desperate Hope alongside Karage. It seems as though we’re the first here, so we’ll be waiting by the gate to greet the others as they arrive.

18:50:33 – Day 1

Swaying Petals has arrived by herself. She seems surprisingly quick compared to some of the other associates.

20:43:26 – Day 1

Quill has arrived – and shortly behind him, Sabelle. They seem to have been not necessarily traveling together; it’s unclear.

I’ll include descriptions of the associates present on this investigation.

• Arumi – Civic wizard and scribe. I’m here to keep an accurate account of events.

• Karage – A slightly tall silver-furred kitsune that wears a loud suit of chainmail under their clothes. They carry an impressive looking sword and tend to be short of temper.

• Swaying Petals – A small sunflower leshy and cloistered cleric of Sarenrae which carries her deities favored weapon – a scimitar. I’ve learned much about divine magic from her.

• Quill – A slightly tall, broad catfolk with patterning similar to a tiger, wearing half-plate with an armored skirt. He’s a champion of Arazni that carries several weapons on his person and is very eager for fights.

• Sabelle Regalia – The only cleric of the Living God present in Onadbyr. His entire body is enshrouded in cloth, and his face is obscured by a very intricate mask, though he seems to be a normal human underneath. He tends to be a very secretive person.

The other associates struggle to see in the absence of light, and so we’ll be resting in Desperate Hope for the night before attempting to find the meeting point mentioned in the posting.

06:13:06 – Day 2

I’ve awoken early to begin preparations for today – mostly sorting out relevant notes and consulting my spellbooks to practice incantations. I’ll provide short annotations for when the others have started to join me.

06:18:00 – Day 2

Sabelle awakens and begins an elaborate series of prayers and meditations. It doesn’t seem like he took the mask off to sleep.

06:24:48 – Day 2

Quill has awoken. He began an elaborate grooming routine – presumably to maintain his mid-length fur – before tending to his armor and spending some time in prayer to Arazni.

06:26:32 – Day 2

Petals is awake; she seems slightly distressed by the lack of sunlight in these caverns. She’s spent some time in prayer and begun singing quietly to herself, trying not to disturb the others.

07:03:12 – Day 2

Karage is the last to wake up. They seem hung over.

09:15:24 – Day 2

Sabelle has finished his daily prayers and worship to the Living God.

We’ll be departing due south to try to find the lone tree mentioned in the report. Petals has volunteered to lead the way; she seems very confident in her sense of direction.

10:22:49 – Day 2

After roughly an hour of walking, we managed to find the tree in question – and an accompanying campfire. Upon approaching, we found Hamato Avi – a kitsune man dressed in very humble clothing – patiently writing some manner of elaborate script I cannot decipher on a large scroll.

(a small addendum is written underneath this: A saying written in the language of the Old Country – “Listening well is as powerful as talking well. Also essential to true communication.”)

Karage, upon realizing our host was a kitsune, has taken the liberty of preemptively changing their form to appear elven. Sabelle joined Hamato Avi, sitting beside him and attempting to copy the scroll into his prayer book. Petals and Quill simply greeted the man, who responded in kind without looking up from his scroll.

Our host simply asked us all if we were ready, to which Quill protested that the posting was too vague to make adequate preparations. Avi took this time to explain what we would be doing: visiting an old friend on his behalf – an elven elder of a monastery of the name Jushen. He’d heard troubling rumors that Jushen’s people had not heard from or seen him in quite some time, and while Avi could lead us to where Jushen was, for some reason he was unable to visit personally.

He went on to explain that the monastery was populated by those who do not speak as a sacred part of their order; these monks consider those who speak to be unenlightened and instead communicate primarily with sign language.

Petals and Quill took this time to propose Sabelle use his prayer book as a written medium for communicating with the monks, possibly tearing out pages to do so. This request was poorly received. He proposed they rip out pages from Quill’s prayer book instead. Rapport seems to be at an all-time low. Sabelle assures us he can also communicate in sign language; I have no reason to doubt him, though I’ve never seen him use it myself.

(attached in between this page and the next is a smaller piece of parchment containing a brief conversation between Karage and Hamato Avi)

Observations: Old Country Communication

“Do you know the language of the old country?” – Avi

“I’m out of practice.” – Karage

[Avi motions to a large scroll he's been writing on]

“It’s an old saying over there – it goes, ‘listening well is as powerful as talking well. Also essential to true communication.’” – Avi

“I can hear people just fine – that sounds really… basic, actually.” – Karage

“Do you listen, though?” – Avi

“Of course, I hear just fine.” – Karage

“Of course.” – Avi

10:48:21 – Day 2

Hamato Avi has begun channeling a spell – I’ve recognized it as teleportation. Expressing my concern, I’ve asked how far we’re going, to which he responded, “to the Old Country.” A long walk from Onadbyr – more than a month should anything go wrong.

My fellow associates spend the next 10 minutes arguing whether or not observing nature makes time travel faster or slower – Petals and Karage believing it’s faster, while Quill and Sabelle disagree. I’ve decided to abstain, as someone with a uniquely accurate internal clock.

10:58:21 – Day 2

We’ve arrived in the Old Country and begun the trek to the ‘Cradle of the Unspoken’. The temperature is considerably colder here; there’s a thick layer of snow on the ground. Avi, Quill and Karage all seem to be handling themselves well in spite of this. For my part, at my sister’s insistence, I packed some cold weather clothes for just such an occasion; it’s still uncomfortable, but I’ll be fine. Sabelle and Petals both seem to be faring less well – hopefully the monastery will be warmer.

11:07:53 – Day 2

Avi has pointed us towards what looks to be some sort of mountainside cave, stating that this is as far as he can go. He’s assured us he will remain here to return us whenever we finish our mission. Sabelle has taken the lead, as the only one present who will be able to communicate with the monks we’ve been told to expect inside.

11:15:01 – Day 2

As we entered the cave, two figures revealed themselves to us; human men wearing simple clothing that have made no signs of hostility. Sabelle appears to be in communication with them utilizing elaborate hand gestures. It seems as though they understand him.

For a moment, something Sabelle said seemed to put the two on edge, though ultimately after another series of exchanges, they nod and let our group pass.

Sabelle has explained that in order to meet with Jushen, we will have to undergo some manner of trial, and that they expect us to fail. He doesn’t share their hesitation; he’s eagerly ushering us forward. I wanted further clarification on what the trial would entail, but he said they didn’t explain.

11:18:23 – Day 2

We have entered the monastery-cavern proper.

The entrance was dark, and I began to worry for the others, but as we proceeded further in, it became clear that light would not be an issue. The tunnel opened up into a cavern holding a small community in it, featuring a number of small residences carved out of the rock of the sizeable cave and a light shaft illuminating the center of the chamber. While there’s a handful of people actively moving about in the cavern, the one thing that immediately stands out is how quiet everything is – a stark contrast from the city. It's almost unsettling.

The loudest noise present is us simply walking around – Karage’s chainmail, Quill’s heavy plate and armored skirt, Petal’s scimitar clattering quietly, the soft rustling of Sabelle’s cloth footsteps, and the quiet clopping of my own hooves on the cavern floor all echo throughout as we proceed.

Our noisy presence has the full attention of everyone in the cavern, though they mostly seem curious about us; Petals has been waving to them, and they tend to wave back. Sabelle has signed some things in passing to a few people, but has not explained what he’s saying.

We’ve decided to each seek out leads regarding the trial, as it seems the pair who greeted us will not be guiding us to wherever it is.

It was my intention to sus out magic in the vicinity, but it became quickly apparent this was a mistake; the normally quiet sounds of my incantations echoed loudly in the cavern, and I drew more than a few glares from the people around me. As such, I have decided to inspect the more mundane elements of this settlement.

It’s my estimation that there’s about 30 people here. The cavern appears to have been inhabited a long time; the walkways are well-worn and there’s a noticeable smoothness to the floor – the type associated with generations of footsteps gradually wearing down the rock. The homes nearest to the entrance appear noticeably older than the ones towards the back of the cavern; some of the deepest ones appear to still show signs from when they were chipped out of the rock. I find myself uncomfortable being under so much earth, but the cave seems stable by my studied eye.

Quill and Petals have been keeping wary of any danger, but it seems as though we’re safe in here for now. Karage has reported finding a tunnel deeper in that seems to be our destination.

When Sabelle returned to us, he recounted a conversation with a young deaf halfling woman who offered some advice on the trial. After informing the woman that he was here to see Jushen on behalf of Avi, she explained that the elder is deep in the ritual chamber further in the caverns, and that he will not wake up and cannot be moved. Moreover, all who had tried to enter the ritual chamber claimed to have been beset by visions and refused to stay.

She further explained that one of the men who had greeted us at the entrance was brother Varn, a man who dislikes Avi to the point of asking him not to return to the monastery. This brother Varn is acting as the leader while Jushen is stuck in trance; she believes that his reluctance to allow us to see Jushen is out of worry – not malice. As a parting gift, she gave a small object to him, saying that it may help with the trial awaiting us in the sacred echo chamber, but she also warned him that the trial is dangerous, and not to be afraid to flee.

(A small note is added after these entries)

I’ve been informed that Sabelle offered to ‘fix’ this deaf woman. I’ll be having a word with him later.

I’ve identified the object as a memento mori – something I’ve read a little on previously. Visually, it’s a flat piece of obsidian, almost thin enough in the center to be seen through – though just thick enough that everything is cloudy. If someone looks through it, it may aid in seeing the unseen; I believe it may help provide clarity with the visions people are seeing in the caverns. For now, I’ve given it back to Sabelle, trusting him to be able to decipher any information it may provide him.

Karage is leading us further into the caverns through the tunnel they found in their exploration. We’ll be entering the sacred echo chamber soon to undergo the trial.

(The following excerpt is written on a small piece of parchment between the surrounding pages)

A Truncated Religious Exchange

“A halfling woman here doesn’t have the gift of hearing. What would Arazni do in this situation? The living god would just heal her.” – Sabelle

“Arazni would…” – Quill

“…Missing one of your senses heightens the others. As long as they have learned how to get around their sensory depravation issues and have survived this long – that in and of itself is a sign of Arazni’s blessing.” – Quill

“Yes, yes. Of course. Inaction. If it’s in your power to fix things, you should.” – Sabelle

12:32:18 – Day 2

We’ve entered the tunnel leading to the sacred echo chamber.

There is a message on the wall near the entrance which states, “Words spoken carelessly lead to danger. Communicate not with the mouth, but with the ear. Within, truth is heard only by those who are open to listening.”

There appear to be no guards.

The most notable thing as we move further is the sheer absence of noise. The previous cavern seemed deathly silent, but without the quiet movement of people around us, we’ve truly been left with no sound save for that which we ourselves are making. There’s no other audible life around us. Petals has cast light for those who cannot see – as the chamber is quite dark. I’ve warned the others to absolutely not speak unless an emergency arises.

And so we proceed into the sacred echo chamber, Sabelle leading the way with his memento mori.

(The following pages seem written very deliberately, as though with very careful pen strokes.)

Note: after later verification, it seems as though we all had these same visions.

A Collection of Visions from the Sacred Echo Chamber

A withered field, once fertile, now blackened.

Storms churn unnaturally across the sky, clouds like ink sliding over glass.

Animals flee, confused, their eyes glowing faint white before fading to empty.

The land seems to breathe in, then hold its breath.

In the far distance, a silent wave of shadow creeps along the horizon, swallowing all it touches.

The elder sits at the center of the cavern, encircled by ancient sigils carved into the floor.

He removes a simple stone pendant and places it gently before him.

From the pendant, faint threads of light emerge, winding into the symbols.

The cavern begins to glow with an inner pulse, like lungs breathing slowly.

The stone around me shudders, groaning with age.

Fissures split through cavern walls, leaking shadow instead of water.

A pulse echoes through the rock—a low, rhythmic thrum that feels more like a heartbeat than sound.

Stalactites begin to drip upward, drawn toward a dark void forming high in the cavern dome.

Far beneath my hooves, veins of molten magic flicker and dim, as if being drained.

A stone dagger is driven into the heart of the elder by a hazy figure. Tears fall from the figure and mix with the blood flowing from the elder’s wound.

As the tears and blood flow down and touch the rune-circle, light erupts, not outward, but downward—deep into the earth.

His body begins to fracture, not in pain, but like stone splitting cleanly, revealing radiant veins beneath his skin.

The runes ignite, and the whole cavern trembles with restrained power.

A web of geometric light begins to expand outward from the center of the cavern, crawling through the rock like a network of glowing roots.

Where the light spreads, the darkness permeating the cavern is pushed back. The stone hardens, crystallizes, and becomes impervious—a lattice of magic-forged earth.

I briefly glimpse the world above: dark storms rolling across plains, rivers flooding, stars blinking out—but unable to penetrate the earth.

The cavern becomes a heart of stillness, sealed and shining. The elder stands, stone remains shattering, the remaining figure composed solely of the light that earlier shone out from the stone.

The figure of light smiles warmly before the vision fades.

(The writing on the following page is barely legible, as though written during rapid movement.)

12:34:34 – Day 2

Ritual failed – fleeing.

12:36:20 – Day 2

The situation has become complicated. The monks are chasing us out of the caverns.

12:53:08 – Day 2

Avi is preparing the teleportation spell. The following is a report of the battle and sequential events in and after the sacred echo chamber around twenty minutes ago based on collected testimony of the other associates.

Battle Report:

Casualties:

• Four Echo Wraiths – Dispersed with flames and powerful swings by Karage
• Two Echo Wraiths – Dispersed with magicked flames by Arumi
• Six Echo Wraiths – Dispersed by a series of vicious cuts and well-placed bolts by Quill
• One Echo Wraith – Dispersed by Swaying Petals via scimitar strikes
• Jushen – Lethally stabbed through the heart with a stone ritual dagger, with a memento mori shoved into the bleeding wound - both injuries by Sabelle

Injuries:

• Arumi – Minor bleeding from the ears due to extreme noise levels
• Swaying Petals – Minor internal injuries due to prolonged exposure to extreme noise levels
• Quill – Major internal and inner-ear injuries due to prolonged exposure to near-lethal amounts of sonic vibrations and noise.
• Karage – Near-lethal internal and external injuries relating to extreme noise and sonic vibrations – was temporarily unconscious

Sabelle Regalia remains uninjured physically, though mentally distressed for other reasons.

Karage’s current status is unknown – they have gone missing.

Summary:

The tunnel from the monastery led into a completely silent, damp cavern filled with small, still pools of water. Upon crossing some threshold between the tunnel and cavern, any small amount of noise would cause small noise elementals – Echo Wraiths – to appear and attack the source of the noise. Quill was the first to experience the assault, and Karage soon followed; both had armor that was too loud to walk in while in the chamber, and so each time they would move, another wraith would appear to attack them as soon as the first was dispatched.

For my part, even the sound of my quiet hooves on the cavern were loud enough to agitate the wraiths, though I quickly discovered they were unable to follow us back into the tunnel we came from. Petals encountered the same issue. The only person who was completely unaffected by this phenomenon was Sabelle, who took it upon himself to continue further into the cavern with the memento mori while we dealt with the never-ending enemies. As he continued deeper, each of us gradually received a series of very powerful visions at the same time – I have recorded them to the best of my recollection on a separate parchment.

By the time Petals and myself were able to untangle ourselves from the conflict and muffle our movements to try to catch up with Sabelle, it was already too late. By the time we found where he’d gone, he re-emerged from the ritual chamber Jushen had been meditating in, soaked in blood and holding a stone ritual dagger. He magically communicated with me to state that there had been a ritual that went awry, and that if we didn’t leave the cavern quickly enough, we would never be able to; at the time, I believed him.

Petals was more skeptical, and continued further into the ritual chamber, discovering the collapsed, bloody body of Jushen in a magical aura of complete silence. She attempted to triage the severe damage that had been done – being stabbed very solidly directly through the heart with a stone ritual dagger – but Sabelle had also jammed the memento mori inside of the wound, causing a series of rough lacerations that made it impossible to save the man’s life. Her haste in trying to save Jushen resulted in her being left to fend for herself against an angry echo wraith.

I accompanied Sabelle to the entrance of the cavern and communicated the urgency to the rest of the associates present, hoping Petals would be soon behind us. Unfortunately, it seems as though while Quill was able to mitigate the noise of his armor and stop conjuring angry wraiths, Karage continued to be beset by an endless number of them. By the time I reached them, Karage was already unconscious and badly wounded. Quill managed to get them back on their feet, and I managed to magically communicate with them to coordinate an escape to the safety of the nearby tunnel. It was here that Quill and Karage set up a defensive perimeter to try to disperse the last remaining wraiths and wait for Petals.

I followed Sabelle, keeping up with him as he ran full force out of the cavern, the tunnel, and then through the monastery proper to the tunnel that brought us here, maintaining magical communication with him the entire way to try to understand what happened. By the time we got partially through the monastery, Petals had nearly caught up with us. She used magic to project her voice to the entire cavern, trying to get Sabelle to turn around and answer for what he’d done, and drawing the attention of every monk in the process. By the time she was running alongside us, she demanded an explanation from Sabelle directly, without magical communication, and he responded in kind.

By the time Sabelle had discovered the ritual chamber, he had become convinced that the visions were demanding that he reenact what was shown to him. Seeing the stone ritual knife on the ground next to the unresisting, meditating elder Jushen, he tried to communicate with the elf using signs – but after not seeing a response, he picked up the knife and stabbed it deep into the man’s heart. Elder Jushen slowly crumpled to the ground, bleeding profusely but still not acknowledging the world around him. In a panic, Sabelle tried the only thing he could think of – he shoved the memento mori in the gaping wound, further injuring the man. After it was clear this was doing nothing, he ran away in a panic to try to deter the party from finding out.

All of this, Sabelle proclaimed in a guilty, panicked voice to Swaying Petals – and his voice echoed throughout the cavern. The monks, hearing his confession, began to mobilize to hunt us down.

Sabelle decided to keep running, hoping if he managed to convince Avi to start the teleportation ritual, he could escape without consequence. Petals seemed to be convinced that he meant no genuine harm, regardless of what happened, and so he accompanied him in his mad dash out of the tunnel. I knew it was important to reach Avi to make sure the entire truth was presented to him so that he may make his own decision regarding Sabelle’s guilt, and so I too joined the flight out of the tunnel.

I hoped Quill and Karage would catch up to us, and, eventually, they did. Karage was incredibly injured – and decided to split from the rest of the group. Their status is unknown – it’s my estimation that they could not survive the trek back to Onadbyr in the condition they were in, but hopefully I will be proven wrong.

Sabelle used some manner of magic to draw the attention of the pursuing mob, and we were able to get away from them to reach Avi. I will include the full dialog between us and him – in case it is needed to pass judgement back in the city.

The Confession

“What news?” – Avi

“I might have killed your friend.” – Sabelle

“Explain.” – Avi

“I’m very sorry – they set us up to do a ritual to seal the place and it involved your uh – Jushen – him turning into a crystal elemental by stabbing him in the heart and it wasn’t clear and he died instead of it working. The details are… uh, it wasn’t very clear.” – Sabelle

“You saw the visions with the memento mori?” – Avi

“It was given to us to do the trial they set us on.” – Sabelle

“What did you see?” – Avi

“Uh… A lot of death – magic seeping from the ground...” – Sabelle

[The associates briefly recount the visions that were seen in the echo chamber]

“Another cataclysm then?” – Avi

“I think they were going to survive with this ritual but they didn’t leave instructions.” – Sabelle

“You said you were supposed to cry?” - Avi

(a small note under this reads: the figure in the vision wept after stabbing Jushen, and those tears mingled with the man’s blood to finish the ritual)

“Apparently – but I meant the vision showed someone crying but I didn’t think that was important… my friends were dying in the cave.” – Sabelle

“I’m sure he wanted to protect his people.” – Avi

“Those people are um… probably coming for my head right now. I suppose it’s up to you to decide its fate, but I’d very much like to keep it.” – Sabelle

[Avi stands up and retrieves the large scroll he’d been writing when we met him]

“Do you remember what this says?” – Avi

[Sabelle seems confused, and so I interject to recite the message: ‘Listening well is as powerful as talking well. Also essential to true communication.’]

“This seems this was a lesson you all needed.” – Avi

“Some more than others.” – Quill

“Yes.” – Sabelle

“Jushen didn’t communicate with words. Even with me or the others around him – it was the visions. That allowed him to guide his people. Do you know if… these same visions were had by anyone else at the temple?” – Avi

“A brother Varn was particularly concerned about it.” – Sabelle

“As use as they were to listening to his unique voice, I think there is difficulty hearing messages you don’t want to hear.” – Avi

“What should we do?” – Arumi

“I’m at your mercy.” – Sabelle

[At this, Sabelle prostrates himself before Avi, who then hands the large scroll to him]

“Yes?” – Sabelle

“I hope you’ll keep this. As a reminder.” – Avi

“Yes… Of course.” – Sabelle

“Well, I… suppose there’s nothing else to do here.” – Avi

“Our most sincere apology.” – Quill

“Should we tell the monastery?” – Petals

“I’ll speak to them after. You did sincerely try to help – hopefully it… well. Hopefully this ends okay.” – Avi

[At this, a clearly upset Avi begins the long process of channeling teleportation]

01:03:08 – Day 2

We have arrived safely near Desperate Hope – not quite where we departed from, but close enough.

After the day’s ordeals, I proposed making camp early – we wouldn’t be able to make it back to Onadbyr by nightfall either way. The others agree, and we spend a night recovering and finally clean the blood from Sabelle’s clothes.

11:36:05 – Day 3

The remaining associates have arrived back in Onadbyr, accompanied by Avi.

For at least trying to help his friend, the associates are given the following:

• 150 gold pieces – Split into five shares of 30 gold pieces
• 3 Scrolls of Silence (Rank 2) – two of which are given to Petals, and one which is given to Sabelle
• 2 Eyes of Enlightenment – both of which are sold, the proceeds being split evenly into five shares of 5 gold pieces

I have been given Karage’s share – to be dispensed if they survived, or otherwise to their next of kin.

With that, this expedition has been concluded.

- Arumi, Civic Wizard.