Obstinea Mountains Templefall Caverns Mystery Dungeon

[Jackie Cat]

Waterfalls, caves, ruins, secrets... All are captivating alone. All the more so when found together. What adventurer doesn't thrill to discover a hidden labyrinth behind a cascading veil of water?

In several places across Obstine Abbey, water fell – trickling steadily, pouring in eager spray, crashing thunderously – from the peaks to pools below, each drawing the eye and ear in their own way. There was one cataract in particular that could be found in the southern monastery, which flowed elegantly in a perfect screen of white water into a large pond around which was a paved and low-fenced walkway. The walkway extended as far as the falls... and behind it.

This waterfall concealed a cave mouth of glistening rock through which was struck orderly pathways of elegantly masonry, as if an artist had painted a vast cavern, thought better of their work, and begun to paint over it with that of a grand temple, as yet unfinished. They blended together like a patchy tunic mended with a different material – slick algae gathered around natural pools of water that steadily fed limestone aqueducts that carried it further into the darkness. Here and there, one could spot the soft glow of bioluminescent mushrooms and mosses, like candelabras beckoning one deeper into its Byzantine tunnels. Elsewhere, the eye was drawn to library shelves in the Obstine style, some empty, others filled with books and scrolls and tablets... When the tunnels gave way to larger rooms, one could find stone benches lit by cracks in the cavern ceiling, letting in a kind of light that cast each cave in dappled patterns, as if shining through water. A false light, perpetual both night and day.

Whether one gave their attention to the carven stone or the bare rock, the layout of the caverns shifted continuously, never quite the same twice, for this was a rift in spacetime – a Mystery Dungeon.

The monks did not prevent adventurers from entering Templefall Caverns, but signage just inside its entrance warned of the danger in becoming lost without supplies, encounters with wild 'mon (noibat, golurk, claydol and parasect, to name a few), and of knowledge best left undiscovered.

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Many thanks to @Tetra for assisting with the writeup.

 

[Jackie Cat]

"Alright, alright, so..." Laura muttered to herself, psyching up for the delve. She'd packed a few useful items and passed word around to the rest of the Wayfarers in the Abbey, but it was hard to feel ready to venture into the unknown like this, when the unknown was a Mystery Dungeon. Let alone a temperamental distorted library that got protective of its books.

She glanced at the other 'mon accompanying her, and hefted her pack. Little flecks of water from the cascading water ahead made her ears flick repeatedly. Past it was the entrance tunnel... and a labyrinth which went at least as deep as the mountain trail that had warped around them as its shallows expanded. So, pretty big.

"I guess we just go in and hope for the best, but... Say, Betel... what are the odds of making an anchorpoint in Templefall Caverns that'd stabilise an area enough to make reading its contents accessible? Are we gonna have to just find a promising looking book and scarper, or what?"

I am not sure, Laura. We may learn more as you reach the rift's heart.

Anything you think of might be worth trying, heroic spirits. Good luck.​

 

[RJr3:2]

"If the title is interesting, then take it- I guess."

Aige hadn't talked much around the abbey, nor did she have much to say. From the other's encounters, it was the same thing- discipline, introspection, self-control. Though it wasn't for her, she couldn't begrudge the monks for it, right?


Actually, she found that she could. For her, potential and usefulness existing only as a distant possibility meant that something like radiance was granted an inverse amount of importance to her compared to the length of time needed to learn to utilize it. If it could be picked up right away, then it was great. If it was something to meditate on for years and years, then it might as well be worthless. The Roggenrola knew it was an unfair way to think of it.

The Roggenrola hoped that something would happen. Anything to take her mind off of herself. Maybe it was the conceit of meditation, the confrontation of the self that she was afraid of. Why would the monks do something like that so often and so readily? For what purpose or gain?

'What a waste.' Was her thought. She felt guilty thinking it, but did not dispute the declaration.

'What a waste.'

'What a waste.'

"What do we suppose a book on radiance might be called?" she wondered, pushing her thoughts away. "If it were an old record, I'd imagine it would be collected writings, or even a journal. So probably one with no title at all?"

 

[Chibi Pika]

Ralsen adjusted his cloak against the spray of the waterfall, holding a lantern at the ready for when they came across passages with fewer glowing mushrooms and mosses. He listened as Laura conversed with what he could only assume was the offworlders' patron spirit of sorts, an intrigued look on his face. "A stabilization zone? I've heard of them forming occasionally, but never deliberately."

 

[Jackie Cat]

Laura nodded, wondering idly whether Ralsen could hold his own in battle. At least he seemed like the sanguine sort, so she assumed he wouldn't lose his nerve if anything went wrong...

"We have a kind of 'mission control'," she explained. "We don't really know what they are exactly, but they maintain a kind of mental connection with us and have some ability to influence dungeons. It's just a couple of them so far, and I wasn't there for either case, but apparently Betel can kind of... coax a dungeon into forming a fixed point that they can use as a focus for the mental network."

She hoped she hadn't butchered the explanation too badly. Betel hadn't corrected her, at least.

"Not sure if it'll be helpful this time, but it's worth a shot. They can sometimes guide us a little inside dungeons to help out, at least."

She swallowed, blew out a long breath, and set off into the throat of the Templefall rift, the sound of rushing water in her ears.

"Let's go, everyone."

 

[Cresselia92]

“Hmph. Yeah, enough dawdling! It’s time for some forbidden knowledge hunting!” exclaimed Silver, a faint joking lilt ringing in his voice. The now-Sneasel glanced at Lyle standing by his side and gave him an encouraging claw-up, before venturing into the maze alongside the rest of the group.

“We can’t say for sure if the dungeon’s heart is truly a book or some kinda text,” he mused out loud, his gaze trained on Aige, “but I guess there’s no harm in checking out the various titles and seeing if something stands out.”

Following his own suggestion, Silver began studying the various bookshelves and skimming through many texts. After a few seconds of silent vigilance, he brought up some thoughts that had been bouncing into his mind.

“…Y’know, I’ve been wondering. This maze… what if it’s more than a simple distortion and it’s actually the dungeon’s defense system?” He shrugged and crossed his arms, his gaze still moving in different directions. “I might be wrong, of course, but if I were some hostile reality warping cavern, I’d set up traps and distortions to keep the intruders away from my treasure, or my heart, or both.”

 

[Jackie Cat]

Laura pawed her chin. "The dungeon wasn't always a library – it swallowed the library. It already existed as a cave filled with waterfalls and temple ruins. The heart might be something that reflects that..." She looked back over her shoulder at Silver. "From what I've read, nobody's quite sure whether the labyrinths in most dungeons are an intentional defense system, but people sure do talk about them that way."

Maybe there was a reason spacetime rifts tried to keep people out of their depths... Laura thought of lacreous pearls, and blisters, and black-and-yellow hazard tape.

"Speaking of defenses, there're apparently a lot of cave-dwelling 'mon down here. Let's try not to attrack any attention."

Every time she heard a faint squeak or click, she wondered if it was just a party member stepping on the cave floor, or a wild Swoobat...

 

[Chibi Pika]

"The temple ruins alone would be an incredible find," Ralsen said thoughtfully. "An entire library falling into the rift just makes things all the more inviting."

His claws clicked on the moist stone pathway, lantern light shining off glistening walls. Deeper into the tunnel, the first peek of glowing mosses could be seen, guiding the way... or leading them astray?

"So your goal is to locate the dungeon 'heart', then, I take it?" the Grovyle asked, glancing back at the Wayfarers.

 

[Jackie Cat]

Laura shrugged. "I guess so? That's what Betel needs us to get to, in order to form their connection with the dungeon. But at the same time, we need them to kinda, open the way? Otherwise we'd likely never find the heart."

You would be vanishingly unlikely to find the heart on your first expedition, at the very least!

Do not fear, I shall do all I can to ensure a safe passage through the labyrinth, with minimal wild pokémon encountered and without missing the heart.

It may be concealed, visually... or otherwise!
​

Got it, thought Laura. The dungeon might conceal its heart with... smells.

Possibly!​

Laura's flattened ears burned with embarrassment. She hadn't meant to send that.

"So, do we follow the moss...? Looks like it leaves a trail. Covers some routes and not others. I guess I'd expect reading areas to be lit, even if the rift is temperamental?"

She hissed under her breath as she stepped on cold, damp stone, water trickling along the tunnel floor and wetting her hindpaws. Gross.

 

[Cresselia92]

“Well, that’s worth a shot, at least,” said Silver, staring at the bioluminescent trail and ignoring the smell of his own wet fur. “If anything, we could use it as some ‘compass’ of sorts, and keep that mossy trail on our left or our right. That should reduce the risks of ending up astray or if we were to meet a dead end, since we could simply backtrack by keeping it on the opposite side.”

His expression shifted into a frown and he let out a heavy sigh. “I’ve ended up lost in a labyrinthine mountain once, so I’ve learned a few valuable lessons in the hard way.”

 

[Chibi Pika]

It was clear from the context that the Wayfarers were able to converse with their patron, from the way that Laura's statements felt half-aimed at an unseen participant. Ralsen nodded and said, "We're fortunate for their guidance, then," as he walked down the most well-lit path.

Whether this path would lead to the temple at the heart, it certainly intersected with parts of the former library. The rough, eroded cave stone occasionally gave way to random patches of marble and ceramic tile, with planks of wood emerging from the walls. Curiously, the shelves, though water-damaged, didn't look nearly as rotten as they should have been after twenty years of disrepair. Ralsen paused to skim a few books, but apparently didn't find anything of note, because he soon rejoined the party.

"Well, I'll assume that our time would be best served by finding this heart and establishing the stabilized zone. After that, research would become much easier."

 

[Jackie Cat]

Laura nodded vaguely, and kept to the luminescent moss. Backtracking could work, some of the time, for short distances. Until the dungeon shifted, of course, as almost all of them tended to...

"Hey, do you hear that...?"

A rushing of water, a grinding of stone, and a movement in the air suggested that very thing had just happened.

"Think the dungeon just altered. We should be fine, but... Just stick together. It's not good to get split up."

The splish-splash of Laura's hindpaws in inch-deep water made her clutch her scarf closer and growl under her breath.

"And no faffing about, either. Gotta keep moving."

Was the water getting deeper? And if so, were they descending a shallow slope, or was this corridor of stone filling with water...?

 

[Chibi Pika]

"In the interest of sticking together..." Ralsen dug through his bag and produced a length of rope, unrolling it and passing it to the rest of the party. "Let's keep moving, then."

The water had indeed grown deeper--only an inch or two for now, but it would likely continue if they hung around. The way ahead wasn't entirely clear, though. They'd emerged into a wider, cavernous passage littered with streams, all leading deeper underground. Clinging to the rock wall, Ralsen crept up to higher ground, holding his lantern up to cast light around. But then, after thinking for a moment, he opened the hatch and blew out the light.

At once, the cavern was plunged into darkness. Several seconds passed with the trickling of the water all around them. Then a faint rippling glow slowly came into view...

"Ah, there it is--behind one of the falling streams." The unmistakable glow of the luminous moss, leading them on.

 

[RJr3:2]

As the rope was passed to her, Aige halfheartedly wrapped it around the stubby rock on her head, tight enough that she could be pulled along, but not so much that she couldn't slip out with a bit of effort. It wasn't that she disagreed with Laura's entreaty to stick together, but the Roggenrola couldn't help but feel like there was still a chance of something good coming of going off on her own.

Aige groaned internally, trying to shake the feeling off as overconfidence borne of the last time she had done as much.

"Whatever the moss leads to, it's better at any rate than wandering around forever," she added, her tone a little more annoyed than she intended. "Dungeons are... kind of miserable."

 

[Cresselia92]

Water… Of all the hazards in those caverns, why did it have to be water? Sure, wading through water might be better than being forced to jump into some swampland or sea of sludge, but it turns out that there was a major downside of taking a bath as a furred ‘mon…

“Ugh! Why does wet fur have to smell so darn bad?!” he hissed to himself with bubbling frustration, rubbing his face to dry his fur off, with little success. “I swear to the legendary birds! With this stinking stench, I could probably bewitch a Skuntank and make ‘em proud of me or something! And I’m not interested in having a stinking affair with a stinking Skuntank!”

The drenched now-Sneasel grumbled and muttered incoherently for a while longer, mentally cursing all those streams and reminding himself to take a long sunbath after all of that was done. Only once he was done spewing his annoyance and grievances, he shook his head fiercely and pushed his issues away. It’s not like fuming was going to give him a rosy scent, anyway.

“Pah, whatever… So we keep following the trail, huh?” He stared intently at the moss not too far from them and breathed out a heavy sigh. “Well, it’s not like we have many other options. Hopefully, the dungeon’s in a good mood today and won’t screw us up with the only lead we have.”

 

[Jackie Cat]

Laura gripped the rope, grateful for a material tether to the rest of the party in the darkness. She braced herself as she passed through the waterfall, shook herself dry, and shivered miserably from the chill. On the other side, the tunnel opened up a little, thoguh she couldn't tell yet whether it split further ahead, or lead to a larger room...

"I wo—" she began, then silenced herself as she made out the outline of a hulking golurk, apparently dormant (deceased? destroyed? deactivated?) and slumped over against the tunnel wall. It would have been invisible to her save for the way the moss outlined its form.

"I don't trust that this thing won't wake up," she said, voice as hushed as she could get it. "Step lightly."

Not a problem for her at least, her cat's paws quiet on the damp stone.

 

[Chibi Pika]

The crisp mountain water washed over Ralsen (it didn't seem to bother him much, being a grass-type, and he'd kept his bag tucked under the waterproof cloak). And unlike the furred members of the party, he had no need to shake the water off. He was just inspecting the contents of his bag to ensure that no water had got inside when Laura brought everyone's attention to the Golurk. It looked positively ancient, the weathered ceramic covered in a spiderweb of fine cracks, and so covered with moss that it might as well have been part of the cavern wall.

It was a shame that taking a photograph wasn't an option; the low light from the moss alone wouldn't have been nearly enough for a decent exposure.

The stone floors in this passage were back to being the smooth, carved variety rather than the rough cave surface. Perhaps they were nearing the temple.

 

[Spiteful Murkrow]

Lyle inched along in the water, tensing up with fire pouring out his back every time he went through it. Gods, this was such an uncomfortable experience, and stuck in this body, no less. Sure, Silver had given him some reassurance on the way over, but it was hard to not keep having his mind going back to the incident in the stream just outside his hometown when he was young.

He breathed a sign of relief when they finally got to the remains of the Golurk. Even if they weren't fleshy like he was, there was something weird and unsettling about seeing the equivalent of a dead body just lying around. And for long enough that moss was growing on it.

The stone floors in this passage were back to being the smooth, carved variety rather than the rough cave surface. Perhaps they were nearing the temple.

How many floors were we supposed to get through before reaching that temple again? Since those steps there look weirdly well-kept.

 

[Jackie Cat]

Laura was sure she'd seen a Golett or two at the Abbey. What did that mean...? Were they civilised descendants of the dungeon's population, or were the dungeon's golems lost to it long ago, having once been 'thinking 'mon'...?

Either way, they passed the ceramic giant without waking it, if it could be woken. At least Betel seemed to be keeping the dungeon from throwing actual live wild 'mon at them...

Once they were far enough past it, the appearance of artifice only grew. Worked stone became intricate masonry, not only the floors but the walls and ceiling smoothed over – engraved with orthographic sequences and decorative patterns – and bearing fountains at regular intervals, their water carried away by grooves and ducts in the stone. This may have been an actual settlement, once...

"I wonder if this dungeon was a cave first, or a temple first," she murmured, softly. "Did it swallow the temple, generations ago...?"

So many questions. No way to know the answers.

The passage opened up again, and this time the way ahead bordered a huge expanse of water, a lake. An underground sea, even – but when Laura's eyes adjusted, she had the impression of a near-black, lightless sky overhead. Was that open air at night, the moon new, the stars hidden by clouds? Or just a cavern roof too far off to make out...?

Laura rubbed at her eyes and tried to focus on Ralsen's lantern, and wherever the carved stone lead...

 

[Cresselia92]

Getting past the inert golem was easy enough. With the soft and silent steps worthy of an ambush hunter, it was ridiculously easy to avoid making any sound. Even then, Silver kept a careful watch on the golem, in case it suddenly awakened and targeted the group. Only once everyone got past the titan, Silver allowed himself to relax and gazed curiously at the new location.

They were ruins of some kind, which somehow managed to preserve at least part of their original architecture and motifs. Silver squinted his eyes and studied the various patterns on the stones, humming in thought while trying to make a sense out of them. Maybe there were some pictograms or something that didn’t require word-to-word translations?

“Interesting. I wonder what kinda civilization built this place and for what reason. Were they the ancestors of the monks? Or maybe even the Saints themselves?”