Xan, Basani and the Ruins of Shurpu

Xan’s trap

The Hero woke up in chains with no idea how they had arrived. Xan said he had baited the trap with a button in town that promised something new. The Hero told him they had never met, but Xan insisted they were like the hero who had interfered with him before.

Xan planned to leave the Hero locked below while he went after Warlic. Warlic had already sent Jimmy the Eye to watch him. Speaking through Jimmy, he told the Hero that the familiar had found a way down and could help them find a way back out. Jimmy helped free the Hero.

The way up the volcano

Warlic spoke through Jimmy again. Xan had left riddles along the path through the volcano. Warlic suspected they dated back to their school days, before the accident that had changed Xan. The Hero recovered clues from the creatures in the tunnels and worked through the riddles one level at a time.

The final level called for defeating a soldier formed from the heart of the volcano. The Hero made it to Warlic, who said Xan had disappeared into the town below. The next part of the search would take them into Basani.

Warlic’s account of the fire

Warlic and Xan had once studied together. Their rivalry was fiercest when it came to Jaania. In an accident, Xan caught fire. Warlic drew on raw elemental magic to turn the flames into healing fire before they could kill him.

The flames kept Xan alive while still burning him. The same accident trapped Jaania inside a magical crystal. Warlic said he had spent years looking for a way to free her and cure Xan, and he took responsibility for what Xan had become.

Basani divided

Xan’s fire had separated Basani’s families. Scoria sent the Hero to check on Andesi and the other children, who had taken shelter inside the stone mill. The miller had lost the key during the attack, and one of Xan’s monsters had taken it. The Hero recovered it and went straight to the mill.

The children mistook the Hero for Xan and tried to fight them off. Andesi called them off. He told the Hero how Xan had come in on a wave of lava, throwing fire and summoning monsters. He had managed to frighten the children without actually hitting them. The Hero suspected that Xan had missed on purpose.

A message for Scoria

Andesi hoped the children could get back to their parents if the path was clear. The Hero drove off fire monsters, recovered the town’s stolen bucket, and carried water from the well to put out the fires. Andesi still thought it too dangerous to send the children across town.

The Hero recovered a family pendant from Andesi’s house. Andesi put a note inside to reassure his mother. When the Hero brought the pendant and note to Scoria, she asked them to confront Xan and find out what he wanted with Basani.

The apprentice Xan claimed to want

When the Hero faced Xan in Basani, Xan said he needed help to defeat Warlic and had come to find an apprentice. The Hero offered to learn from him if he would leave town alone. Xan wanted someone whose mind he could burn clean before teaching them his magic.

The Hero thought Xan meant to make the adults surrender one of their children. Xan instead went to the children. When Andesi offered himself to spare everyone else, Xan dismissed him and said the children had to choose one of their parents. He threatened to burn them if they refused.

An illusion for the wrong person

The Hero planned for the adults to volunteer Andesi. Warlic was preparing an illusion to make himself look like the boy and would take his place when Scoria hugged him goodbye. The plan depended on Xan expecting to take a child.

When Xan demanded their decision, Andesi named his mother, Scoria, because he believed it was what she would want. Warlic had no time to prepare a new illusion. Xan took her to the Ruins of Shurpu beneath the town and said they would search for his real prize.

Into the Ruins of Shurpu

Andesi accused the Hero of letting Xan take his mother. The Hero and Warlic would go into the ruins to find her, and Andesi insisted on coming too. Warlic objected, but the Hero backed Andesi. They followed through the opening in the street.

The sealed library

Warlic thought the Shurpu library might explain what Xan was looking for. The Hero found its metal door and brought Warlic fire gems to power the lock. The door opened once the Hero worked out how to light the three gems above it.

Warlic left a note saying he and Andesi had moved into the library to begin their research. The Hero cleared fire creatures out of the halls so they could work.

Andesi proved quick at grasping magic and helped Warlic find the records he needed. Warlic learned the ruins held the Ring of Shurpu, which was said to amplify fire magic a thousandfold or more. The Hero set out to recover it while Warlic stayed with Andesi.

Across the lava

A schematic showed the way to the guardian who held the ring, across a gorge filled with lava. The Hero gathered boards, wire, and salts. Warlic built a bridge and enchanted it to withstand the heat.

The Hero crossed and defeated the Shurpu Ring Guardian. With the ring on his hand, Warlic felt his fire magic overwhelm his other powers. The party went to Xan’s throne room.

Scoria for the ring

Warlic wore the Ring of Shurpu when the party came for Scoria. Xan admitted he had never wanted an apprentice. He had taken Scoria so the Hero and Warlic would follow him and left them enough clues to recover the ring. Now he threatened to kill her unless they handed it over.

Warlic hesitated to trade one life for the power Xan would gain. Andesi begged him to save his mother, and the Hero argued that treating her life as expendable would make them more like Xan. Warlic agreed to the trade. Scoria was reunited with her son. Before taking the ring, Xan cast a charm intended to keep Warlic or the Hero from ever removing it from his hand.

The ring reversed

The Hero had suspected a trap. Before the meeting, they took the ring to Escherion’s tower and exposed it to Inversion Chaos magic. When Xan tried to use it, the ring reduced his fire magic by the same factor it was meant to increase it.

The inversion also reversed Xan’s charm. Now only Warlic or the Hero could take the ring off his hand. Warlic said they had a town to rebuild and left Xan with the ring.

After Scoria went back to Basani, Warlic kept working in the ruins. Warlic decided to have Andesi help organize the scrolls. With the boy’s help, he had already uncovered pyromantic spells that had gone unseen for years.