You've found a cabin in the woods

After searching for three days, you've finally found the cabin.

You pull out the rusted key and use it on the door...

Story

The key slips into the lock perfectly, and with a soft click, the door aches open. You step inside to find the cabin nearly empty: there’s a hearth in the center of the room, a dirt-darkened area rug, and the walls are lined with bookshelves, but they are dusty and vastly empty. There are a few spots where the dust has been disturbed, and you remember the key’s owner stating he didn’t find anything here. But if the trails are evidence of his search, why was the dust on the bookshelves unbroken?

You walk up to one of the bookshelves to find that the “books” are neither paper nor stone, but instead, cured leather. You select one packet from the shelf, but the twine that bound the sheets together disintegrated under its own weight, sending the sheets across the floor. It’s safe to assume that no one’s been here for years, save for Durran and yourself.

As you lean down to collect the unbound sheets, you notice the inscriptions on the page aren’t of a typical alphabet, but an array of dots punched into the leather. You run your paw across the page to clear dust from the indentations, when the script illuminates under your hand with the warmth of a fireplace.

From the mere light of the page, the writer’s emotions fill the air: joy, curiosity, haste, sorrow, defeat. At the final sense of a forlorn future, your eyes land on the hearth in the center of the room.

Glancing to the page one last time, you return it to the shelf and let yourself follow the pull calling you from the hearth. As you grow closer, you realize that warmth is emanating from within, but there is no fire. You open the grate to peer into the belly of the hearth, but nothing is out of place beyond the flameless heat flickering against your skin.

You shake your head and go to close the grate, but it gets snagged on something; the lower pin it looks like. You kneel down to try and fix the issue, when the pin clinks out of its slot and bounces under the hearth. With a sigh, you lean down to retrieve the cylinder, but something catches your eye as you do. 

A small, pristine ruby glitters in the door where the pin once attached. Instinctively, you reach to retrieve the gemstone, but at the pressure of your claw, a hearty click sounds, and the hearth erupts into flames.

You jump back, a little shaken by the roaring embers, but the longer you stare into the fire that so rudely startled you, the more and more it begins to look like… a room?

Of course, there’s no way you’re going to try and enter what cannot be any more than an illusion made by wavering heat. Not a chance. No shot. Not ever, never, ever…

Your paws begin to tip-toe toward the flames. Maybe just a little investigation, you think, before leaving the cool Farport air behind and entering the hearth.

Begin Dialogue Module

Event

Under Chimney and Hearth

Part 1 of 2 of our next dialogue module has been released! "Under Chimney and Hearth" will end on September 30th at 23:59:59 CST, although we suggest participating in the module sooner, as it gives you a key item to unlock Part 2 "Into the Fire".

As with our previous module, we are also offering a matching prompt alongside the dialogue for those who want extra goodies or may not want to participate in the module.

REMINDERS

• All Prompts, the Farport exploration, and dialogue modules from previous weeks of the Smokesignals event are still available. 
• Have you made a gift for someone's Safiran? Submit it to our Generous Spirit prompt!
• Both Poco Discovery and the Activity Corner will be available until September 30th.
• Want game reminders or to chat with fellow players? Come join us on the official Discord server!