Ball of Blue Fire

This is a Meadow exploration event. It can occur once per play through and offers the chance to acquire Healing Dust, Orichalcum Bead, Sage Powder and Rotten Food. Be aware, survivors risk incurring several different types of Burns and the temporary negative trait Torturer when investigating this event.

Inspect[ | ]

In front of your eyes lays something incredible: a blue ball floating in the air. A girl is trapped inside, curled up. On her thigh, a rune is tattooed. The closer you get, the warmer it gets. This fire... it's the hottest you've ever seen... How can the girl be uninjured inside?

Examine Runic Tattoo[ | ]

Relevant Skills: Wisdom

Why does she have the "k" rune tattooed on her leg? Is it an initial letter? Or is it to be protected by the rune? If it's the latter, you wonder if she's trapped here because of her tattoo or thanks to it. Maybe it saved her life? Maybe it's killing her? Better find the meaning of the rune if you want to prevent something similar from happening to you...

Think about what the rune means. (Wisdom)

Failure: Hmm... It's... *KAUNAN, isn't it? You know it has a double meaning but what is it?; + Depression
Success: Hmm... It's... *KAUNAN, isn't it? This rune represents both a disease and the fire that will purify it... The flames of hope or a fatal wound... which is it here?; + Wisdom Experience

Examine Candles[ | ]

Relevant Skills: Constitution

You approach the candles. They look like your average candle, if you forget about the blue flames dancing on the wick.

Blow out the candles

You blow on the candles to extinguish the flame. It flickers but stands firm. You blow harder but instead of dying, the flame grows stronger. For some reason, you feel drained by this effort. You've just blown a bit of air, but it feels like you've just climbed a mountain. Strange.

+

Fatigue

You take a second to rest and notice the outer fire circle seems brighter as well. Looks like you've fed more than just the candle... Interesting.

Remove the candles (Constitution)

Failure: The air around the candles is VERY hot, almost burning. You take it on yourself to grab the candle bare-handed. You grit your teeth, resisting the heat is hard. You were doing all right until wax drips on your skin. You instantly let the candle drop. You cradle your burnt hand, hoping to stop the spreading heat wave of pain.; + Injury; When you check your hand, your skin is red and puffy with countless little yellowish blisters. That's quite the burn!; + Injury; + The survivor gets a Superficial Burn.
Success: The air around the candles is VERY hot, almost burning. You wrap your hand with your tunic and take a candle. Even with your trick, the heat is piercing. Still, you resist the urge to get your hand back somewhere colder. As you put it aside, you notice the flame flickers, and then fades. Interesting... You proceed the same way with the other candles, resisting the biting heat, careful not to burn yourself. Each time the candle goes out when it's far enough away from the ball of flame. When you're done, you notice the outer flame circle is no more.

Try to Come Closer[ | ]

Relevant Skills: Agility

A ring of blue fire stands before you and the fireball. The flames may not be tall, still you feel their heat: it's hotter than regular flames.

Reach over the ring of flames

You extend your arm over the ring of flames. When it's about to cross, the flames grow tall, like a barrier. You instinctively pull your arm back. The flames lapped at your fingertips. They are now slightly burnt. Thankfully, nothing too serious.

+

Injury

Cross the outer ring of flames (Agility)

Failure: The flames aren't too high, surely you can jump over them. Will be tough though: there's not much space between the outer ring and the fireball. You jump. When you were crossing the ring, the flames grow taller, as if they were alive and wanted to prevent you from crossing. Being mid-air, you can't do anything to dodge it. The flames lap your legs. The pain unbalances you and you fall on the side, crossing fire another time. As you land, you curl into a ball and roll to extinguish the flames. It hurts so intensely it makes you cry. Your legs are severely burnt but strangely, while your skin is now nothing but burnt patches, your clothes are intact. Your legs are a mix of yellow, red and brown. Unlike regular burns, you have purulent blisters with traces of decay on the sides. It ain't pretty...; + Injury; + The survivor gets a Deep Burn.
Success: The flames aren't too high, surely you can step over them. Seems like a sensible choice since there's not much space between the outer ring and the fireball. You raise your leg and are beginning to cross when you see the flames of the outer ring growing taller, like a barrier. Thanks to your quick reflexes, you manage to step back -or rather jump back- in time as the fire barrier flashes in front of your eyes. You check your feet. Strangely, your shoes are intact: the flames only burnt your toes. It's painful but very superficial. You notice the fire ring is back to normal.; + Injury

Get Near[ | ]

Relevant Skills: Constitution, Courage, Wisdom

The fireball floats in the air in front of you. The girl curled up inside hasn't moved an inch. Her tattoo though seems to have faded a bit. Her skin and hair are light blue; but it might be a trick of your eyes because of the blue fire wall between you and her. Maybe you can free the girl from her fire prison. She's close: she could be pulled out in exchange for a few burns. Or maybe there's another way.

Throw something in the fire

This rune... fire of hope or disease... If it's hope, then you should feed the fire. If it's a disease, you should try to cure it.

Reconsider

Burning resources... can you afford it? And, what if you choose something not in line with the rune? You need to think VERY carefully.

Throw a healing herb

It's disease. The girl is sick and the fire protects her from the outer world. In an attempt to cure the girl, you throw some healing herbs at the fireball.

-

Healing Plants

Something really strange happens: you see the grip of the girl on herself loosen as the fireball shrinks a little. Looks like your herbs were not potent enough. You will need a stronger remedy to cure the girl. Still, it's encouraging.

Throw one of each healing powder.

It's disease. The girl is sick and the fire protects her from the outer world. In an attempt to cure the girl, you throw every healing powder you know of.

-

Each powder you throw, you see the grip of the girl on herself loosen and the fireball shrinking. At the last powder, the fireball implodes. The girl is released and falls on the ground. You notice her skin is really light blue, it wasn't a trick of your eyes. Her hair is white as snow though. She doesn't appear to be breathing. You approach her and try to get a pulse. When your skin touches her, something horrific happens. Her skin starts ulcerating starting from where you touched her. You can only witness as her flesh decays and turns to ashes. A few minutes later, all that's left of the blue girl is a pile of ashes. Among them, there's a small bead made of a strange golden metal. As you retrieve the trinket, you can't help but feel relieved for the girl. Now, she's free from her eternal torment, isn't she?

+

-

Feed the fire with wood.

It's hope! Has to be hope! The girl... she hopes to be freed! You throw a few logs into the fireball.

-

Wood

Something really strange happens: the log starts burning but in an odd way. Instead of turning into embers, the wood seems to rot from the inside. In a few seconds, the wood is entirely decayed. But that's nothing compared to what's happening with the fireball. Inside, the girl seems to wince in pain and tightens her grip on herself. Looks like it had the opposite effect of what you expected to achieve... Wasn't "Hope" then... Well... it was worth a shot.

+ The survivor gains the negative trait

Torturer for 8 days.

Grab the girl's arm. (Constitution)

Failure: You take a deep breath. This will hurt... You extend your hand to try to reach the girl's arm. Try is the key word here... There's some kind of resistance to your arm reaching through the flames. Meanwhile, the flames burn your skin, deeper and deeper. You can't handle the pain and pull your arm out. Was easier than trying to get through the fire. You examine your injury.; + Injury; Strangely, your clothes didn't burn, only your skin. It looks like leather with some waxy and white coloured parts among dark brown, almost black patches. You can't feel any pain -or anything really- on the darker patches of skin. It will leave horrendous scars... Shit...; + The survivor gets a Thick Burn.

Success: You steel your mind, ready to resist the pain from the incoming burn. You swiftly extend your hand, trying to reach the girl's arm. There's some kind of resistance to your arm reaching through the flames. You endure the pain of the flames burning your skin, tears building. You grab the girl's arm. At that moment, you don't feel ant more pain. Looking at your arm, you see the burn has stopped. Worried this miracle will stop, you hurry pulling the girl's arm out of the flames. There's no resistance pulling your arm, although, there seems to be for the girl's. You keep pulling, yet you can't make her cross the fire. It's as if there was a wall preventing her from crossing. With a heavy heart, you decide to let go of her. When you part from her, the pain comes back immediately, biting your hand's flesh. you get it out in a split second and examine your injury. Your hand is red and puffy with countless little yellowish blisters. That's quite the burn...; + Injury; + The survivor gets a Superficial Burn.

Cook Some Meat[ | ]

Requires at least 1 Raw Meat

Maybe you can use the fire to cook some meat. You impale your food on a dagger and put it close to the fire. It starts smelling good... And then, something strange happens: blisters start appearing on the meat then popping to reveal black spots. Is the meat rotting from the inside? You get the meat out of the fire but it's too late: the decay has progressed fast and now the meat is fully rotten. What in Hell happened?

- Raw Meat + Rotten Food

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