GhostlyGame (Aldren) (An Old Playthrough)

   So... This is the first GhostlyGame log that was recorded on a computer. It doesn't have any of the game mechanics displayed, I edited them out like I did for the GG2 logs.

   The story is long, and on (mostly) second person narrative, like the old choose your path adventure games. I enjoyed playing this game more than I enjoyed playing its successor, GG2. But it is too complicated to just leave around for a couple of weeks and return later, and it takes too much effort in exchange for a nice bit of story.

   I'm posting every single story log in Aldren's logs, so this is going to be a very long post to read. If anyone is willing to read this, don't try to read it all at once, it's just not worth the time. I'm going to read it, and update / fix some grammar / vocabulary issues, when I have the time. This story is at least a year and a half old, and my English is still very flawed.

   Enjoy Aldren's original story, from an abrupt start in the middle to an abrupt end which happened because I moved on with my life: 

   IMPORTANT NOTE:   I started reading the damn thing, but I had to stop. So only the beginning is kind of verified. The rest of the story may be filled with inconsistencies, language errors, satirical lines, and a lot of amateur writing mistakes and poor logic. Most of the story is unknown to me either, since a year and a half had passed since the last time I touched this. That is all, goodbye for now, enjoy the story...

-X-X-X-

   You stood at the entrance of the Armorsmith, it is a two story building with a giant grated chimney. The top floor is built out of dark toned ironwood strong enough to withstand the ash storms without taking damage, the bottom floor which you guess is the forge area is made out of rough stone bricks with ash scorches on it. 

   The door is wide open and over it there is an oval sign which has the name of the shop, “Dharwel’s Hardware”, you wipe the ashes off your boots at the doormat and enter inside.

   Inside is larger than you anticipated and has a layer of smoke which makes it harder to breathe. A young man is standing in front of the forge fire, as you enter, he leaves the long metal pole he is holding in his hands and comes to greet you with a welcoming face.

   Quagrend: “Welcome to Dharwel’s Hardware, mister, I’m Quagrend, how can I help?”

   He is slightly younger and shorter than you and has a soft voice, long white/blonde hair and no facial hair… Yet he is here and tending the flames at the forge with sweat running down his forehead.

   Aldren: I was just looking around I hope you don’t mind.

   Quagrend: No, you can go ahead and have a look around, my master isn’t here today so if you would want anything special you need to wait for him, he will be back tomorrow. Are you looking for something special?

   Various amounts of metal and ironwood shields are hung on the walls and there are a lot of armor stands that hold equipments with extreme craftsmanship, but the price signs are much over what you expected.

   You feel a bit overwhelmed and awkward for letting yourself in here and interrupting this man’s business but you still manage to ask:

   Aldren: I am not from these lands so I’m not the fighting type really and I only have about 50 coppers, I’m just looking for something for a little safety

   Quagrend: I figured you are a stranger, I’m almost a stranger too, anyway, you can take a look at the stuff there, maybe something catches your eye. Holler me when you decide.

   The young man goes back to the forge to rekindle the fire.

   A copper plating, a footwraps and a red ironmail is all you can afford if you want to be able to eat and sleep later. The red ironmail seems that it is used before but it still looks nice and it can actually protect you from serious damages.

   Aldren: I’m buying this red mail.

   Young guy leaves the forge with gleaming eyes.

   Quagrend: 14 coppers, sir.

   You hand out the money.

   Quagrend: Try the mail, I can adjust the size if it doesn’t fit right.

   You wear it over your Triegrion E Suit and it fits nice,  it is a bit short, but not tight so it is fine.

   Quagrend: If you have anything to sell, I can take a look, we almost accept anything if it would have a use.

   Aldren: I have this thing.

   You pull out Nathreid’s broken core from your backpack and hand it over to the young man, his eyes shine with the weak fiery light emitting from the core.

   Aldren: It’s the core of a fire elemental, named Nathreid the Heat Drainer, it is a dead core so it has no use for me but I was keeping it as a battle reminder.

   The young man looks interested, obviously he is unaware of who this elemental actually is, but the spheric heart of the elemental, even though it’s broken, charmed him.

   Aldren: This was much stronger when she was alive but still there is a flow of magic inside it, I can hear it at night, in the silence.

   Quagrend: I’ll give it 18 coppers, would it be fine?

   Aldren: I guess… Yeah… I’m still adapting to your currency, but it seems fine, it has no use to me anyways.

   (10:02)   You leave the store, then decide to continue to wander around the keep:

---

(10:02) Sky has turned from dark crimson to charred orange while you were in the store. You are guessing that it must be the day cycle, although a sunrise this late (even though you can’t see the sun because of the ash clouds) means that you are closer to poles. Then why is it so hot here? It was an interesting planet to land on (crash into), surely…

   The day is already begun in the streets of the keep, people are moving from one place to another but they don’t seem rather relaxed. Something is hurrying them… but you decide not to ask questions and disturb people. Two men height walls of Creznar’s Keep (that separate the town and the keep) catches your eyes, you think this would be a good time to go and enter the keep for some reason.

(10:09) As you approach the keep gate, a dozen of armed infantry barge through the gates as they quickly open. They are armed and leading a convoy of workers pushing several vagons, they seem to hold a huge amount of blackened water. A man shouts at you:

   ???: Keep is off limits for a few hours, stranger.

   You suddenly realize the smokes emitting from the Volcano a few miles ahead.

   << Now, this is a bad timing. >> you mumble.

   Without a doubt, you start to follow the convoy. Although it is dangerous, it has a certain appeal for you, after you are stranded in this place and had a taste of thrill, this was inevitable for you, for some reason once again…

(10:30)   You followed the convoy through the main gate, the ashfields and into the foothills of the volcano. There was a giant moat carved around the volcano and several metal ramps with braces and giant lever mechanisms to tip the ramps. It was a lava cooling system you realized when they started to push the vagons over the ramps. The ramp braces held the vagons and a couple of well-built heavy workers stood near the levers. After half an hour around the volcano, the setup was completed and everyone waited in fear as the volcano grumbles. Braces held the vagons so tight that even the earthquake coudn’t shake the water of them, let alone tipping them over.

(11:00)   Although you were a bit close to the volcano, several previous burn marks on the ground indicated that lava projectiling range of volcano was not close to you and the moat was well planned in the beginning. Others were as calm as if this is a regular errand, but still, the shine of fear in their eyes could be read easily.

   A man approached you:

   ???: Who are you, mister? I am Zane, the captain of the watch here and I haven’t seen or heard of you yet. Why are you here?

   Aldren: I am Aldren. I was staying in the keep for a few nights to rest and continue travelling. I was curious about this sudden rush so I accompanied. I hope you don’t mind.

   Zane: So you are travelling… I thought you were a soldier, with the suit and the arma.

   You notice that he thinks the Triegrion E arma is an army symbol.

   Aldren: I was supposed to be an engineer still, but my fleet got into an accident and since then, I’m fighting my way to survive and move on.

   Zane: You do contracts?

   You look at him surprised.

   Aldren: What kind of contract is it?

   Zane: So you are interested, good, if you accompany my team upon fighting our ground against one cult, I will have a reward for you at the end.

   Aldren: A cult? 

   Zane: This volcano erruption is happening very early comparing the time we estimated. We beleive that a cult named Blazing Ashes are behind this early erruption and they are living in the undermines of the volcano. The mines were abandoned by the old Ashland states when the mountain gone active and lava pooled into the shafts, then these pyronauts settled inside. The earthquake and solidified lava blocked a lot of the branches but there is still a few and we managed to spot them. The raid is within half an hour, they are a handful of wizards so be cautious!

   Aldren: I assume that it is this dozen people and you that I am going to be assisting.

   Zane: Yes, so what is your final decision?

   Aldren: Alright! I can handle it. Call me when we are about to march forward.

   Zane: Good determination, but don’t keep your guard down. Okay then, have a rest for now. Don’t wander off!

   You are not sure why you accepted that, but you could use some reward.

---

(11:27)   Sky is bleached orange now, filled with ash and basalt dust, obviously bad for your lungs but you never expected a healthy happy life after the crash, hell, even before the crash.

   The signal for movement has finally come from Zane, the little army of 14 has gathered in the foothils, you included.

   With some supplies and tools packed, you marched up the foothill path, which was the blackened earth, caused by lava. You reached upto a certain point height when Zane split the team into three groups and sent the other two five men groups into the tunnels at the left and right. There was four people left now, Zane, you and the two other men.

   Zane: They might have noticed our raid, I need to split the team in case of any ambushes and this way we can be more careful and quiet. Rustley, you take the lead of your team; Ana Janice, you take the lead of your team. The rest of us will enter the main tunnel.

---

(12:17) The large cave entrance was too exposed in the noon time, but you and the three others still approached without a doubt, obviously not expecting what you will encounter there. You heard voices coming from inside.

Zane: *whispers* I’m going to count from three, when I say one, move in, we will try to catch them off guard first, if you see that we will fail, just barge in! Now, three… two… One! Here we go!

   Zane rushed inside but unfortunately stepped on a crumbling rock and swore as he tried to gain his balance back, with this bad start, Zane managed to hide behind the other side, the cultmaster moved near the entrance and as he stepped out, he saw Aldren and Percival standing in the frontline, it all happened so fast, luckily Lod managed to climb to a higher advance point and avoided being seen. Zane charged with his claymore but the cultmaster swinged and dodged the attack, leaving Zane exposed as he stumbles, then an arrow whiz by Zane and the cultmaster as Lod swore quietly and fired another. But this time, the cultmaster quickly stepped back in shock and took a battle stance with his staff as the arrow whizzed past in front of him again. Lod has two arrows left.

Zane: Don’t give him the chance-

---

Turn 1: (Story)

(12:18) You charged in with your laser ironsaw and slashed the cultmaster’s fern robe in the chest, left an open but not deadly wound. As you winged towards right, Zane swung another staggering hit and left the cultmaster open for attack, which Percival tried to take but an unexpected arrow hit the top of the cultmaster’s left shoulder. Percival leaped back with sudden fear and only sliced a little scar on the cultmasters cheek, then looked right, up on to the high advance point, asking Lod: “WTF man!?”, Lod apologised.

   The cultmaster sprung back and clumsily moved into the cave, near his acolyte. While doing so, he pushed his hand on his shoulder then his chest, after he pulled the arrow, healing the wounds almost instantly.

---

Turn 2: (Story)

(12:19) The acolyte created a two feet radius fire rift and sent directly onto you, it moved so fast, you haven’t had the opportunity to evade it, you walked right through the flames once again, your eyebrows got singed even more. You feel shocked that you didn’t completely immolated, but you have gone red with the blood pressure. As your head felt like it was going to explode, you saw Lod jump down onto the entrance and shoot his last arrow in the right shin of the cultmaster, leaving him vulnerable once again. But you went for the acolyte, slicing his left side through the thin robe, you almost missed it.

   At that same time, cultmaster screamed with rage as the fire gathered around him, but it was less than you expected, as Zane slashed his right shoulder this time, pushing him even behind. and tearing a huge part from his robe Then, a few seconds after, Percival swung his axe at the cultmasters left feet and rolled him over behind.

---

Turn 3: (Story)

(12:20) You landed a second hit on the acolyte, this time under his knees, sliced a damaging open wound, causing a terrible bleed. Percival hit the cultmaster with the fiercest way possible on his head, slashing his face, pooling blood in his eyes and banging his head to the ground. Acolyte tried to cast another rift upon you but fumbled with a sudden pain from his knee and casted the fire rift onto the ceiling, the rift hit the basalt ceiling and spread with a thud. After running out of arrows, Lod pulled out his oiled butter knife and charged onto the cultmaster but -sadly- stumbled on the way. Instead, Zane landed another crippling blow on both of the cultmaster’s kneecaps, paralyzing him for the rest of his life. The cultmaster cried with pain and anger and cast a pool of fire, but it didn’t land where he wanted in his confusion, the pool landed right between the four characters but none of them caught any fire. You sighed with a relief.

---

Turn 4: (Story)

(12:21) You were too late to realize that the acolyte took the only advantage from this moment, as you turned around, a large fiery rift blew you a few feets back, burning through your skin and charring your suit even further, you screamed with agony while you were lying on the ground. Zane screamed “NO!” and with a feat of rage, dealt the final blow upon the cultmaster’s heart and ran towards you, at the same time, Percival ran and slashed the acolytes ear, Lod also tried to hit something by swinging his knife, but he couldn’t manage it… He must feel like shit now… Not more than you feel that way at least…

---

Turn 5: (Story)

(12:22) Zane charged, swinging the mighty blade and slicing the acolytes face, shoulder and chest at once, nailing him on the ground. Percival tried to finish it with an axe swipe but the acolyte rolled to his right, tried to reach his staff which was fallen on the floor, that was the point they (especially the acolyte) noticed you, as you swiped your ironsaw down on the face of the acolyte, spraying blood everywhere, you pulled out the saw as the acolyte still screamed and cried. You turned around to have a few breathes as this is still something you needed to adjust, killing an actual human… You hear a shiver and one moment later, you turn back and find Lod stabbing his dagger right through the acolyte’s heart. “This will take care of him completely.” said he as he stood up with a bloody hand and a smiley face.

“Yeah it does…” you replied, with a charred face and a pitiful smile.

---

(12:32)   After scavenging around the cave for a few minutes, you split and searched for the other group, Zane went with you towards left and Lod and Percival went towards right.

   You found Rustley’s group in a very good shape, he informed you that there was no casualties on their part, they sweeped the place from four cultists quickly. Then you all returned where the cultmaster died, as Zane told them our side of the story. Ana Janice’s group, -well now only Zerine Tae and Wail- was with Lod and Percival. Zane asked “What happened?” with a nervous face. Percival answered:

   “We lost Ana, Zed and Whitney.”

   Zerine Tae continued: “There were five of them, Whitney took two, I took three down but she and the others couldn’t make it through, Wail is bleeding, he needs help.” as she moved her friend further with the help of Lod, Wail. Zerine was wounded too but she showed no weakness. Zane and a few others gone near Wail and helped them bandage their wounds.

   The other two helped you ease your burns with awkward liquids which they brought with them, as they expected some people to get burned.

(12:46)   Ground started to shake, no, not the ground, the mountain.

   Zane: Oh no, we need to get out, erruption of the volcano should be soon.

   Wail asked in worry:

   Wail: But Ana and… are we just going to leave them there?

   Zane: I’m sorry… We wouldn’t make it out there.

   Dust started to rain from the ceiling. Zane shouted as he advanced towards the large open cavern mouth. “Come on, people! Hurry up!”

(13:02)   You made it down the foothills and finally settled at the other side of the moat. Workers were still waiting there, volcano started to errupt, first the clouds turned black, then ash rained down as you all covered your face and hid behind rocks and plate metal to avoid ashes. Then the embers and particles flew over to the clouds and a fiery orange color spreaded throughout the volcano, it took several minutes for the lava to reach the moat, but at the end, when the moat was almost full, great vagons of blackened water were poured onto lava at once and a huge cloud of smoke and poisonous gas filled the terrain as everyone scattered around. The braces were holding the vagons even now, as this was the thing they are designed for… Overall, it was a flawed, but a successful event.

---

(13:46)   You went back to the keep with the others. You were in the main courtyard of the keep when Zane came with a parchment in his hand.

   Zane: This might not be the reward you expected, but still, it is a very decent incantation that even the outsiders can learn and apply and has no risk of casting it. If you are not into it, you can just sell it, there are others who would value this more than you would. Thank you for your help, if you have further interest upon Creznar’s Keep, I’m sure we can find a spot for you.

   You don’t really feel anything at that moment, but you know that you need to go after Elari. So you ask it:

   Aldren: Any chance you have an information about Elari, Pante, Nathreid or that kind of fire elementals? I’m looking for Elari…

   Zane: Several years ago I heard those names from an incident near here, I don’t know what is your connection to it, but it doesn’t matter because that is all I know.

   Aldren: Oh well, farewell then…

   You turn back with the parchment in your hand and plan to spend the night here, then follow a trail further into the Ashlands to find Elari, for some reason…

---

(13:57)   You reach the training field, a man looks at your burnt state and realizes that you were with Zane’s team. Then he approaches you.

   “I heard you all did a good fight there…” He seemed a bit nervous. “Do you happen to know where Whitney is? I haven’t seen her in the convoy.”

   “Oh,” you gasped slightly… “I…” you didn’t know how to phrase this… “Sorry, she didn’t make it…”

   “Oh…” the man gasped sadly.

   “…the last acolyte killed her after she took down two of the other acolytes, we were splint into three groups so that is also what I heard, that she fought well until the end, I’m sorry…”

   The man in his twenties were looking down to the ground. “Thank you for letting me know her last moments.”

   You walked past the man, avoiding further conversation as you thought that he also doesn’t want to talk more about it. 

   The training field was empty at the moment. You decide to go somewhere else.

---

(14:08) You enter a three story building with a shop display room. The first floor is a dark, large forge with all sorts of weapon molds, fletching tables and displayed samples of warfare. As you enter, a man in his forties greets you and shows you around, but after looking a while, you thank the man and leave the shop. There were a lot of interesting items but you weren’t too keen on replacing your ironsaw with a different weapon after all this time. You decide to go visit the monument and rest a bit, eat something and enjoy the time.

---

(14:15)   The monument is a replica of Ragghear and Chrozarc’s two descendants having a defensive stance together. The countries and nations of so called ‘good’ haven’t seen how these people could fare in harmony. Thus, both sides are deep in the mud as much as they can, only there are lesser amounts of people who can understand the true meaning of balance and whom have released themselves from the blindness of nationalism. Chrozarc is the symbol of chaos, Ragghear is the symbol of fire, yet the people of this keep are trying to fend off the fire and eliminate the chaos, but their belief is beside Chrozarc and Ragghear… Ironic it may seem, but even in this much hazard, people of all Crealon are the same… Of course, you are not the one who thought this through, you are simply completely obvious about any subject related to this world whatsoever… Maybe that is one another way to understand and apply the balance…

   You sit on one of the benches under the monument and start unpacking some food and beverages.

---

(14:32)   You get back to the inn. After a very late sunrise, you would expect a very early night fall, so you decide to pass the time in the inn until tomorrow. Innkeeper tells you that you can still use the room for one more night after you told him that you are leaving tomorrow and you need provisions.

(20:34)   You buy some provisions from the innkeeper:

---

(20:38) You had a slice of bread and a slice of porkchop with some water to digest them.

---

(00:05) You went to sleep…

---

(09:45)   A weak orange sunlight shined onto your face from the stained dusty gray window, alerting your half asleep body on the bed. You recovered quickly from yesterday’s burns and it felt better to wake up with a fresh, senseless relaxation. You stood up and packed your backpack, not much have changed since you came to this town, but still, even that was more than you expected. The smell of roasted flank seems to have filled the room. You weren’t sure if this was a good idea to bring this flank with you on your travel since it might spoil in a short time in this heat. But you didn’t have much options. Besides, it will be wrapped in layers of leaves and linen, it will be fine, you thought…

   You were thirsty and could use a short breakfast so before hauling your pack, you made two makeshift sliced bread meat sandwiches and ate them with the disgustingly warm water from the jug on the table.

(09:56)   You left the room after a while, gone down the creeky ashwood stairwell and faced with the innkeeper in the quiet and empty inn hall. 

   “Got a new delivery of supplies, a lot of junk stuff and food and beverages, check the stock if you would like. Maybe you find something worth to buy.”

---

(10:05)   You checked the stock and was surprised by how different it got compared to yesterday’s stock. You looked through several stuff and the innkeeper directed you to a few items that could take your interest.

   In the end, you offered him the prize that Zane gave you for aiding them, he agreed to pay 35 copper for it and told that this is about how much it actually worths. You bought a purse of magnetic powder mixed with red irondust to apply on your ironsaw and you bought a very nice bakery bread that came from the keep’s cook. A few bunch of it were sent around the keep after the incidents, to keep up the morales, this is why it’s cheap today, the innkeeper explained.

   You filled your water flask with some water before you leave.

---

(10:09)   You left the inn, left the town and headed north - east of the volcano -…

---

(10:21)   You were walking on the charred fields of ash for about ten minutes, there was no clear path in front of you, but you could see a set of hills, far away from the volcano, you were determined to head that way.

   An unexpected pain runs through your head and you moan in agony, quickly after, the pain is gone, but your sight blurs a bit for a few seconds. Then you find yourself staring at a small hatch, poorly concealed under the layer of ash. You clear the top of the hatch and find out that it is not a hatch but a buried small box. You pry open the box with your ironsaw and find a boulging purse and another two pieces of parchment.

   “Folllow the path, if you don’t want to get lost… Don’t look for company in the Yscilenna Pass, if there is any, it will surely find you…

- The Loremaster”

   The other piece of parchment was an uncomplete map of Ashlands, only carrying the places you’ve been through, and the places you need to go.

   There is something odd with this world. Your space expedition program couldn’t detect anything from the coordinates this planet belonged, and this planet is even bigger than your suns. It might actually be the very center of its solar system. Before you crash, you had little time to explore the wonderful creation of this world and the planets around it, the great nebula and the planet’s moons, which might actually be the stars that is considered the sun by other natives. Oh yes, they also seem to speak your language, for some reason…

   You don’t remember the crash moment but you would know that it should be impossible to survive such a crash, physically not explainable. Yet you are here, and here, everything is so similar, yet so different. The planet is completely habitable, but the balances are so awkward that once you stepped out of Forest Aucre, you found yourself in the Ashlands… Completely different climates, day night cycles, people… Not to mention magic, and weird things, things that are unacceptable and unanswerable with the guidance of normal human mind. But since you stepped in this world, you felt no difficulty to grasp the life style. You were drawn to blood, danger, death… Under normal conditions, the burns you cured in less than a week would cause you a complete burn mark for a lifetime, but as you touch your skin, you can feel that it is as smooth as the day you got your degree from your highschool back  in Treandell. 

   Neither the beginning, nor the present makes sense. Even your future is tied with a string that you can not see the end of… The Loremaster? Until today, you were taught to beleive in only one thing about the existence, that it can be answered with the physical reasons but it was never revealed that what was the reason behind those physical reasons. It would always bounce from one end to another. Although it was illogical, the only valid explanation that some celestial existence was behind the creation of this, but that could not be defined with matters, or with any existing thing. Then that would boil down to the fact that the celestial existence actually does not exist, otherwise there would be another something as the reason of the existence of this celestial existence… and the cycle went on as there was nothing out there to disprove the globally accepted facts of the humankind known as Triegrion E, until a few days ago… Your life has changed as your feets stood up on this new earth. 

   Something was wrong with it, the pain didn’t stay for long, you were acting beyond your character, you are travelling for a reason you can’t find the answer for. Maybe it is the answer you are chasing throughout these lands… while someone watches you, observes your actions and makes you aware of its existence. 

   This doesn’t make sense, emotions and primal instincts of the living is weaker, except the drought of entrophy inside you, all of you.

   Could it be a long lasting dream, a lucid one, maybe you were stuck in that dream… But no, it felt very much real, everything was real around you, your senses were completely open and clear… actually much more than it have always been. No, this was definitely real… You were worried about what is waiting for you next, considering the timely warnings of this ‘loremaster’. Although it made you brave enough to beleive that you have a destiny, since you were the one who received these messages, these vague words also made you doubt as if you were only a replacable piece in the big game.

   Your travel has continued with pretty much these thoughts, as there was not much to sight see around the ash fields.

---

Ashfields (4/5): Yscilenna Pass

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(11:14)   << This place is too quiet, it makes me feel worried >> you thought after reaching the big cavity carved inside the mountain, the map told that this was the Yscilenna Pass and it only leads to a further but smaller part of the Ashlands. 

   The remains of civilization was lying around, the vagons, linen strips, ropes, crates and a lot of junk was lying around near the big cave mouth. You assumed that this also could be going through a mineshaft and although there seems to be no life from outside, maybe there is a bunch of workers inside. Although, you remember the words on the parchment and try not to worry about this too much.

(11:19)   You make your way up to the entrance, climbing stairs that are carved in the stone. As you look inside, you only see darkness. Your common sense denies your interest upon passing through this haunted looking place, but you still decide to follow through. But you do need a source of light.

   You start looking around the pile of junk outside.

(11:26)   Some time passes as you rifle through the junk and you, at the last moment of dedication, spot a torch with an oiled linen nicely wrapped around it and a flint with matches to burn. You grab what you need and get back to the cave entrance.

(11:27)   Just before the dim sunlight fades away inside the ‘hopefully abandoned’ passage, you light up the makeshift torch. As your sight increases with the torchlight, you see stone supports partially encased in the rough tunnel walls. The tunnel is give or take ten feet thick and fifteen feet high. At the end of the tunnel, darkness continues, so you assume that this might be a winding road… hopefully not a closed or blocked one… You move along the tunnel carefully, examining everything around you and watching your step.

---

(11:32) After a few minutes of walking, you can see that the tunnel suddenly winds leftwards and gains a slightly ascending pathway in front of you, the only light source is your own torchlight. Although it says ‘Yscilenna Pass’ on the map, you are not sure if a normal person would dare to walk through this tunnel nowadays, you do see torch sconces on the stone pillars though, it’s a shame that they are all empty, the tunnel is clearly not meant to be used anymore. You wonder why…

   The tunnel ends up at a room, it is obviously a natural cavern room, considering the stalactites on the oval shaped ceiling. The room is three times larger than the tunnel.

   You can’t see the whole room clearly while standing under your torch, so you move around the room to see if there is anything interesting, the tunnel doesn’t disturb its route with this room and there is also almost nothing in this room apart from some dirt piles, a bucket of coal and a few useless rags and a crude stone mass that has a weared top as it was used for crushing something, probably other stones, there is no other pathways either, at least not one that is not blocked by masses of cobblestones. You continue your way with the only direction possible.

---

(11:42)   You start to feel a bit bored and paranoid as the tunnel goes on. You reach another room that is slightly bigger than the last one and has almost the same concept inside it, but this time, it has several tunnels that are blocked. You think that they blocked them so this place would only have one route and this tunnel was also used primarily as a mineshaft before, you continue the tunnel without thinking about this too much.

---

(11:48)   It has been quite some time since you started dwelling in this tunnel. So far there was no one, and nothing interesting. The same dull scene each time, although you don’t know why you were expecting something interesting from an old passege.

   Your torchlight is still bright but it started to lose its brightness slowly, you hope that you find the exit to this place before it runs out of oil.

   You reach another cavern bowl,  this one is quite long, large and twists to the right. Stalactites and stalagmites cover the ceiling and floor respectively. One little part of the cavern was carved neatly and there was a small mining base, containing a few spare pickaxes, a vagon, a little furnace and… a dead man near the dug cavity. You move near the deceased body.

   You block your nose and mouth to not vomit or black out from the terrible odor still emitting from the recently deceased miner, at least you assume he is recently dead. His body is eaten partially, burnt a bit as well… On the furnace counter, you see a small pile of copper pieces, a tied paper roll and a faintly gleaming orange gem. If you are not wrong, this gem is an ember, and it is not intended to be a game but you still take it along with the other things and quickly leave the little base to take a breath. You ignore the dead body and continue your way.

---

(11:56) After half an hour of walking the tunnel, you finally see the light outside. Excited about it, you start to move faster, but suddenly stop due to a few voices coming from outside, but a few moments later, voices disappear and after you carefully make your way up, you see no one but a giant crater, encased in the earth. At the end of the crater, ashfields continue… You don’t think you could find Elari, or anyone here, but you can’t turn back either. You feel like you should follow the map.

   After examining around the entrance, you fail to spot anyone around, so the voices you thought you heard could just be a mishearing. You see a lot of burrows in the crater though, on the low walls of it, even at your left and right, there are about three feet wide burrows. Investigating a little further, you only assume that those could be nests for animals, but what kind of animals would live in a harsland like Ashfields? Either way, you decide to sneak your way to the other side of the crater which ends with a plain. It is the only safe option, which is pretty worrying for you.

---

Ashfields (5/5): The Ashswarms

---

(11:57)   << Why in the world would a passage lead out to a giant swarm nest? >> You asked yourself, whilst looking around, worried that they will be alerted by your existence. You were too distracted to remind yourself the voices you heard whilst you were still in the passageway. 

   The sky was bright orange once more, the ash clouds were weak and scattered. There was little noise coming from swarm dens, so you slowly started moving. The crater was quite large and shaped almost like a football stadium from your own world. Except it was even larger than that, and the end of the crater was carved and made into a canyon, it looked natural though, and it probably was natural as well…

   The pathway lead you down into the crater with a winding path, you were horribly exposed to any sight around you, even miles away. You followed the path, it was larger than the tunnel’s width and it was well kept, somehow. A conveniently shaped wide rough dirt road, it was obviously man made and you thought that swarm dens weren’t much of a problem, otherwise they wouldn’t follow this path. You fared downhill quite relaxed. Until you reached the surface of the crater. 

   You were walking pretty casually when a sudden pack of screeches alerted you as three bat-like four feet wide creatures glided down from the sky.

---

Turn 1: (Story)

(12:03) You were too late to act, the smallest one sliced you over your ear, though it was just a scratch. Then the biggest one hit you in the chest as you attempted to pull your ironsaw from your belt. As you were trying to shake off the one on your chest and another one striked on your shoulder. While the two others were brownish, this one was pure black and had scarlett teeth, which looked pretty scary. They did have eyes, unlike bats, and they had four little feet, although you didn’t notice almost any of this in the heat of the ambush.

   You slice the right wing of the one on your chest as you shake it off, a black colored thick blood covers the tips of your ironsaw. You realize that it opened two big dents on your chainmail and blood is slowly pouring out of them and your shoulder has a wound as well.

   After finding yourself in an unfair combat, you decide to flee, but it will take tremendous effort, you don’t have the time to think through this, so you will follow your instincts.

---

(12:08)   You sprint out of the dirt road into the fields of spiky stone formations, moving between them, you thought you could shake them off, but after a few minutes later, you felt a burning pain in your back as you found the biggest one ripping your armor, your suit, your skin with its two sharp teeth. You scream and push it off. You glance back for one second to see only two of them standing behind you, the one with the black tone stayed behind it seems. You need to shake them off, otherwise you won’t leave here alive. It’s merely the beginning of the travel in the crater.

---

(12:10) You manage to shake of the other two after several maneuvers between the rock formations and cliffs, even the nests, which were thankfully abandoned, well, except the last one.

   As you shook off the biggest and the last one, you face with two more small but seemingly smart ones. You decide to leg it straight away.

---

You feel your chest bursting out blood, the wound isn’t deep, but it is still a wound and you are losing more blood as you continue to run away. You are panting and trying to catch breath. But you still manage to run enough to get rid of one of them. You can outrun the other if you try a bit harder you think, you don’t have to run that much, you just need to trick it and perhaps you can have some rest somewhere safe, if such a place exists…

---

(12:17)   You tried to outrun the last thing, but you didn’t realize that you went through two nests while doing so. As you thought you fooled it, you found out that it was otherwise as it stabbed its fangs right in the side of your neck. You punched it off but your vision blurred for a moment and you could feel the red blood bursting from your neck, it was serious but it didn’t hit any major artery, which is why you are still alive, barely. You started running again, holding your neck with your left hand, but this time, a huge but stupid one was also following you, how could you tell that it was stupid without even looking behind, let alone inspecting… magic, I guess!

---

(12:20)   You were running for several minutes, dodging those agile animals, in a heavily wounded state. Your speed slows down as you move further, you manage to leave the huge one behind, but the one that is tailing you hits you on the same spot, grabs your left hand and it pierces its teeth into it, you scream in agony as the blood starts to burst out of the wound on your neck, again. You start to feel dizzy this time, as you try to save your hand from the creature, you fall down and faceslam the ground. You faint…

   A few minutes pass as the pool of blood around you grows larger. Larger and larger… You fail to awake again. The animal is flying over you and continuously diving to slice a piece off of you. You will be a feast for them, now that you failed…

---

You died.

---

You may return to the start of the instance if you want… and try it all again.

---

“Wake up, Aldren!” A mysterious unfamilliar voice awakens you. “Your time is not over yet…” You wake up with sweat covering your body. You find yourself on the dead ground of Ashlands once again, after a brief moment of gaining your consciousness, you realize that you are on top of the cliff where you left the Yscilenna passage and entered the Ashswarms. You have a clear memory of the suffering you have been through down there in the belly of the swarm nest ground… you also remember fainting, or was it dying, you can’t really tell the differrence. You check your body and your face for wounds, but you don’t seem to find any. 

   You take the same path down into the field.

---

(12:03)   The field was hollowed with countless amounts of nests, on the sides of the crater, on the ground, everywhere possible, scattered around randomly, but at some places, such as natural dirt pilars, archways, moats and opened up crewices, numbers increased significantly. The sun wasn’t shining but the noon heat of the ashlands boiled you inside your red iron chainmail. The only noise you could hear, apart from your footsteps on the rough dirt, was the endless noise of crickets, or something like that…

   A faded pathway was leading down into the field of nests, inside the crater was quite complicated and didn’t follow a certain terrain height, but the abandoned road was still trackable. You know that you need to pass the swarmfield to get to the other side.

   You follow the path, trying to be careful, you expected to get disturbingly close to the swarm nests but the complicated path you are taking lead you near a few nests that you could actually see the creatures in them. Fortunately they were sleeping, the road was destroyed by earthquakes and terrain was leveled with several difficulties for you to work your way though… and going through this path without making any noise required quite the skills and some luck…

   You climb over a spiky rock formation that has sinked into the ground unlike the several others spread across the swarmfields. You jump down from it and clumsily land on the dirt. You take a glance over your back as you hear a noise, a few wings clap and you suddenly sprint as quiet as you can to avoid the two bat-like creatures diving towards you.

   After a couple of minutes, you notice that the faster but smaller one leaves you and returns to its nest. But the big one with the giant fangs follows you as you pass near two very close nests without alerting any other swarmers.

   A few more minutes later, you outrun the big one as it was just too slow and you successfully avoid waking up any other creatures.

(12:22)   After almost twenty minutes of thrill, you finally feel safe enough to walk normally as you leave the swarm nests behind. 

   << Well that was quite terrifying… >>

---

(12:27):   The rest of the ashfields seem bland and empty. No living creature can be seen or heard, only some rocks that are scattered across the field and the ash covered earth.

   You suddenly hear a quite disturbing screech and then a small sack purse falls in front of you. You look up into the air to only see a seagull flying away from the ashfields. “A seagull?” you think. “What is a seagull doing here? There must be a sea close by…”

   You open the purse and find some copper pieces and a note, from Loremaster: 

   “Sail to the Island of Quandrel, your journey will continue there… These will help you take the boat trip and maybe more…”

   You continue to wander away from the ash swarms. The field in front of you is plain and filled with short bushes and dry leafless trees, it gets a little colder as you move away from the scorched lands of the great volcano, but it is still higher than the room temperature. Finally you step onto a land coated with grass. The terrain is flat and in the horizon you can see glittering of a sea. It gets a lot colder as you finally left the Ashfields behind. Now you can detect a small settle in the sea, which you guess where you will get your boat.

---

Island of Quandrel:

---

(12:55)   Breezing gust of this sea fills you with a cold sensation, a vast temperature change like this makes you feel disturbed and weak. You finally made your way near the getty, where a man in his forties shouts at you:

   Man: Hey! Where are you going, pal?

   You, with a confused face, yell:

   Aldren: To the island, do you do boat trips?

   Man: Yeah, that would be me, 35 copper for the trip. But we gotta sail now, the storm is coming from the east.

   You reach to the purse the loremaster gifted you, take 7 coppers and tie the purse, leaving 35 coppers inside it. You chuck the purse at the man, he catches it and grins:

   Man: Follow me!

   You go after the man with a haste.

   The little settlement seems empty, the smell of salt and diluted blood, along with stench of fishes, filled the place, there are fishing nets with weights attached hanging from the roof. A few boy children are chasing one another in the narrow streets and people are carrying baskets with linen or vegetables, or fishes. Some of them notices you and your scorched white engineer suit. They glare you with curious looks but none of them seems disturbed. The man you are following shouts a few words to other children and men along the way, either greets them or asks something from them you are not sure, they are not using the so called ‘common language’.

   The getty is a sturdy blackwood pier and a two man high large shack with a boat inside it. Its open side looks directly to the island. The man tells you to board the small canoe and then he sits on it after you. Rows the boat and sails into the winding sea without wasting time… Waves gets stronger as you travel but it is not enough to worry.

   A time passes….

   Man: Pal, this is not good, I can’t get you to the island bay, I have to leave you there on that rocky coast. You have to walk the rest. Here:

   He gives you 10 copper back.

   Man: This is your refund, pal, look:

   He points to the approaching storm.

   Man: I gotta get back and finish preparing the place for the storm.

   Aldren: No problem, I can make my way there, thanks for the trip.

   Man: Anytime, pal. Find my brother Ramaun if you want to get back and tell him that Vex owes you a trip back if you want to return. He will take care of it.

   Aldren: Thanks again, farewell.

   You depart the boat and step onto the rocks. The man yells as he sails away:

   Vex: See ya later, pal!

---

Island of Quandrel (1/2): The Rocky Coast

---

(13:26)   The coast is covered with large flat boulders that are stuck to the sandy surface, because of humidity, the sand is soaking and the rocks are slippery. You stood still on top of the rock you departed from the ship and watched as the man drifts away with the little canoe. You turn back and face the barren, windy landscape that continues to ascend to the summit on the center of the isle. There is no path in sight, but you do know that if you follow the coastline along north west, you will eventually reach the Quandrel bay, or whatever it is called…

   “I guess I will head along…” you say after a short sigh. At a moment of silence, you decide to drink some water, you untie your flask from your belt and enjoy a good refreshment.

(13:32)   You feel relaxed and energized, you tie the flask back to where it belongs and head along the shore, with careful steps.

---

(13:44)   As you follow the coast, you reach at a junction where you can see that the coast makes a half circle spin and at the end, you can see the silhouettes of frigates in the sea. You continue to follow the coast.

(13:46)   You hear a faint sound of a waterflow, a few feet in front of you, between two boulders, there is a bubbling stream of clean water, the stream ends at a small pond a little away from there, you can see some little animals roaming around the pond and the small green field surrounding it and bugs flying on top of them. Near the stream source, there lies a vial made of a clean, bright glass and a few pieces of copper and a small note paper that is partially wet. The note was folded and was under a rock, but still, the writing was quite readable, because of the big letters:

   “HERE, REJOICE!”

   You are not sure who left the note, or is it for someone else specific, but nevertheless, you take the vial, fill it from the source, fill your flask while you are at it, take a sip to taste it,  pick the coppers and examine the note one last time to find nothing else on it. Then, you leave there and continue your way. It might very vell be a gift of refreshment from the loremaster but who knows…

---

(14:02) Although you can see the silhouettes of large galleons on the water in the horizon, the road you walk seems endless…

   You are moving on the narrow line of sand that separates the sea and the sets of flat rocks, the coast is empty and silent, apart from the relaxing sound of the tides. Though you can see the storm forming in the sea, large gusts of air colliding in one giant whirlwind. It is still so far away though, even the tides are barely effected by it.

   << I should get to the bay before that thing comes near >>

   You continue your pacing… Then a moment later, you spot a pair of sandals washed ashore, it has markings etched onto it, not knowing the purpose but thinking that somebody has lost them, you pick them up. Under the right sandal, there is a seashell buried in the sand and gravel compound. You carefully remove the piece from the sand. Its patterns are beautiful and shines with the grayened sky. You take the seashell with you and move on…

---

(14:08)   As you paced alongside the coast, you spotted an occupied area with  a one man shack next to where the coast gets wider and dents into the island on your right for only a small length. At the very center of the misshapen coast, there is an odd rod stuck into the sands underneath the shallow water, you can’t really detect more than this given that you are a little far away from there. But you can clearly see an aged but sturdy man hastily working on something. You approach steadily towards the cottage and the man.

   The man spots you, as you trudge towards him on the rocky coast. He stands still and looks at you for one second to see your stranger appearance, then yells:

   << You are about to enter my property, boy! >>

   You stop moving with a hesitation feeling filling inside you.

   Aldren:   Oh, I’m just passing, going to the bay.

   Man thinks for a second. You trudge along.

   << What is your business in the bay? >>

   This question is not easy for you to honestly answer.

---

   Aldren:   I’m delivering a package from Creznar’s Keep to the bay. I had a boat trip that got short because of the oncoming storm. Please, I’ve lost enough time already.

   Man:   I don’t care, if you want to pass, you have to pay me 20 coppers.

   Aldren:   I don’t have to pay you anything unless you show me a valid proof that indicates that this is your property. 

   Man:   Okay, okay, don’t bother me with those stupid nonsense of yours, I have stuff to do before the storm hits the coast. I hope you drown in it…

   And with that, the man turns back to his hard work, huffing with annoyance as you hastily walk past him and his cottage.

--- 

(14:17)   A while passed after you left the mad man behind you. The eponymous Quandrel bay was in a short distance, you could see the roofs of wooden buildings over the line of palm trees. You were glad that it was close by, or else you would have to face the upcoming storm on your own. On your left, in the distance, you could see the descended clouds, crackling with the images of thunder and lightning. You could hear the faint sounds of thunders occasionally. Though the waves that hit the shore got increasingly intensified and now you could only hear that, again and again…

   Wind was the worst part, you felt the salty sea water in your face and lips all the time and it was only from your left towards your right.  So your left hand side was soaked in salty water, you thought the stench won’t go off. For someone who was in a boiling land when he woke up today, walking on the coast of an island in the afternoon was quite different, you reminded this to yourself many times but it still didn’t make much sense.

  A patch of dried blood stain on the gravely moist dirt ground had caught your attention, as it was right on your path. An obvious short trail of blood showed you a dead sea turtle lying on its back on a large flat rock. As you moved close, you could smell the stench, but the smell of sea, carried by the raging wind had blocked it somewhat. Either way, both of them was almost revolting. You moved closer to inspect the animal. Someone has harvested its shell and some of its organs were removed too by the looks. You didn’t find any clue about who did it or why did they need to do it, but you couldn’t stand the smell as it got stronger now that you were close by. You ignored it and moved on…

---

   You have shifted the path you took, due to the increasing water level and tides, now you were following a much clear and open path, but it didn’t exist before, you though this path ended just before here, on the shore. You have finally gotten away from the sea a litttle and wind has weakened, you thought it was because of the palm trees blocking its path. And yes, those thin trees were leaning towards east… No, that wasn’t east, you reminded yourself that from where the sun was, before the clouds covered the sky, therefore the storm was from the north east, so you were heading south… to the bay, which has its main entrance in a short walk distance.

---

(14:24)   You have been walking for a while, with the storm clouds filling the sky, blocking the sun, you lost track of the time. You decided to take a break for a few minutes and walked next to a palm tree on the path side. Whilst sitting under it, something in the dirt caught your eye. A piece of clothing was covered with dirt and dust. You pulled it out of there to find a bag of copper coins with a single coin dropped from its mouth, a piece of note and a blooded scimitar that emits the smell of sea.

   The note was crumbled and partially bloodsoaked. Once you open it, you realize that it wasn’t a note, but a crude map of the south east corner of the isle, near the bay. Several small isles were drawn onto the map more you go south, a ship marker indicates that you have to sail to the spot marked with a Y, yes, a Y, what did you expect, an X, you filthy casual! Sorry, I got distracted, let’s move on… Hell yeah, this is the old original GhostlyGame, baby! I don’t like being serious, it’s not like anybody’s going to read this anyways, it’s a game log, it’s like reading the tutorial pages, nobody does that. YEEAAAH! Baby, I missed this! Ok, sorry, let’s get back to our game.

   Aldren puts the map in the pocket of his engineer suit. Takes the scimitar and moves on.

---

Island of Quandrel (2/2): The Quandrel Bay

---

(14:30)   The eponymous bay of the Island of Quandrel... Salty breeze teases you in the face. After walking a little more while on the dusty dry dirt road, between two parts of the palm tree forest, you find yourself in the dead suburbs of the Quandrel Bay… Sand has piled up in the doorsteps of the many palm wood houses and huts with crackled and broken  structures. You didn’t know that the town was abandoned, which made you feel nervous after a while of pacing on the darkened brick roads that crawl in the town. 

(14:35)   But beyond that, lies a short palisade with wide open couple of doors. Noise of people can be heard from a minute walk distance.... especially the gulls’ creaking...

(14:37)   You reach the gates. two armed man are near the gates. One on the left is sitting under a tent, on a crude wooden chair; the other is pacing around. They have ordinary white shirts with ripped off sleeves, revealing their slightly sunburnt thick forearms; plain linen pants with green linen coloring. Two glistening scimitars are hung onto both of their belts. They look at you with a questioning, well, rather daring faces. One on the right approaches you, continuing his free pacing.

   Man:   Hey! Look here mate. Ain’t ye too pale for this place. What is your business here?

---

   You feel nervous… Neither the strange messages or the treasure map is worth risking to mention. You’re not sure what kind of a rumble those could cause, so you just say:

   Aldren:   I’m looking to sail off the island.

   Man looks at you accusingly:

   Gate Keeper:   I don’ remember seein’ ya leavin’ these gates. How’d ya get here on the isle? Where’re ya from with yer white clothes?

   You stood still silently for a few seconds… and then explained how you got here.

   The man still had suspicions about you and didn’t want you to enter without searching you. You didn’t want him to find the map, or make a mess of your bag, or even take something for himself. You backed off when the man told you to stand still.

---

(14:40)   You stood still, holding your ground as the man reached out to your bag. You caught his wrist. For a moment he looked so surprised, then his face turned angry:

   Aldren:   I just need to sail off this god damn isle and you are in my way. Don’t make this harder for both of us.

   The man grunted. “Fine…”

   The other gate keeper was standing a few feet away, holding his scimitar. You walked past both of them.

---

(14:42)   Salty breeze slowly returned back to its former intensity as you paced along the dirt road that leads right to the docks. Even past the palisades, the city looked so empty, but a lot of noise were coming from the docks and you could even hear childrens shouting once in a while. At the point where the road descended down to separate pathways with staircases at the end that leads to left and right docks respectively. On the left hand side there was an inn called “The Wanderhall”, it looked old but it was crowded even outside. People were sitting around at tables, drinking and gambling. Of course, you were too far away to see any details.

---

(14:47)   Stormclouds were half covering the gray sky, a lot of noise could be heard from the docks as the sailors packed wares up and moved them to the warehouses. Ships were anchored and some of the wharfs were completely empty.

   “Looks like no sailing for me today” you mumbled and started making your way to the inn on the left, thinking of resting the rest of the day and the night there.

   Crude stone stairs lead you up to the tented frontyard of the inn. It was a two story, two building establishment with a large paved garden. Which was full with muscly daydrinkers who gazed at whoever was on foot, inspecting them.

   You got under the tent and drops of water finally started landing on the ground. With a shivering feeling you moved along the aisle and entered inside from the wide open double door front gate. Inside, it was pretty much the same scenery. Two brunette barmaids were tending the counter. Smell of cooked food was mixed with strong essence of alcohol vapor. You moved up to the counter to ask for a room. “Too much noise!”, you thought.

   “Look at you with your white hair and outfit.” said the barmaid on the left with a grin. She was in her early twenties. “You look knackered though. What’d you fancy?”

   “Room for the night.” you said, followed by a moment of silence “Do you know anyone around here that I can sell a few junk that I gathered?” 

   “Sorry lad, not my area. Check the docks tomorrow, not much ship come and go from here anymore but you might find a few merchants for your trade.” she said and added: “A small room, one bed, on the left wing, second floor, number three. Twelve copper for you.”

   You grab a handful of coins and give her twelve of them. She gives your hand a key which she grabbed from under the counter. “Rest well. Leave the key here tomorrow.”

(14:58)   You find your room and settle in. There is a hay bed with clean sheets, a table and a chair. You remove your rusty red ironmail, your suit, your shoes and gloves and then you sit on the bed in your old bedtime clothes and watch the clouds from the window for a while. Some raindrops hit the window ocassionally, but the rain itself hasn’t started yet.

   …Some time passes as you think about what you lived in the last couple of days and what your home was like. Rain had started pouring down. You were bored after a while. So you searched the room for something to pass the time.

---

   You found a book with leather cover in one of the drawers. Both the cover and the pages were slightly weared. It was titled: “Sailing The Ranevean Sea”

   You started reading the book, whilst lying on the straw bed. The author gave a brief explanation of the book at the first three page. It was a journal. The author told his tale of piracy and raids.

   Book wasn’t short, but it wasn’t long either. It was a year’s worth of daily progress and it was almost 250 pages. Until the evening eight o’clock came, you read three quarters of the book. Then you left the book on your bed and pulled out your preserved food and drinks from your backpack:

---

(20:21)   Dark has fallen. You ate two lizard flank sandwiches. Drank some tonic water and spring water afterwards. Then you packed up the food and the drinks, washed your hands in the basin. Then returned to read the book near the candlelight.

---

(22:51)   You finished the book and put it where you took it at the first place. Then you snuff out the candle. After a couple minutes of admiring the empty night sky, still wet and shining roofs of abandoned buildings across the inner border, you decided to sleep.

--- 

(05:59)   You wake up before dawn. It’s cold at this hour, you feel the shivering breeze so you equip your suit and armor. You feel hungry and thirsty.

---

(06:15)   You had the same type of food that you had at your last dinner. After you finally finished the tonic water, you left the tin can on the table. Then you packed your stuff, grabbed your backpack and the room key and left the room.

   You went downstairs. You weren’t the only early riser. There were few sailors at the tables, sitting, doing nothing. Though some of them looked like they spent the night on that table, maybe they did, even…

   There was an old man at the counter. You handed him the key and asked for a water refill. He refilled your flask.