The morning sun cast long shadows through the Theater District’s cobblestone streets as Mira adjusted her leather satchel and glanced at her companions. Jorik, their dwarven cleric, muttered prayers to his deity while checking his warhammer, while Thane, their halfling rogue, seemed unusually nervous about getting his boots wet.
“Remind me why we’re taking a job that involves water elementals?” Thane asked, eyeing the ornate stone building before them with its bear-carved columns and rose-scented steam still wafting from within despite being closed.
“Because Claudine Bonnay is desperate, and desperate people pay well,” Mira replied, pushing open the heavy wooden door marked with a hastily painted ‘CLOSED’ sign.
The interior of the Ursa Bathhouse had once been magnificent. Now it resembled a battlefield. Cracked tiles littered the floor, and pools that should have been serene were churning with supernatural fury. As they stepped inside, a translucent blue figure burst from the nearest hot pool, wielding what appeared to be liquid claws.
“By my beard!” Jorik shouted, raising his shield just as another elemental erupted from across the room. The two water beings immediately ignored the adventurers and began tearing into each other with ancient hatred.
“Well, that’s… helpful?” Thane observed, ducking as a spray of scalding water arced over their heads.
Claudine Bonnay emerged from behind an overturned massage table, her elegant appearance disheveled and her fingernails chewed down to nothing. “Thank the gods you’re here! I was starting to think no one would take the job after what happened to the last group.”
“What happened to the last group?” Mira asked, though she wasn’t sure she wanted to know.
“They… well, let’s just say they left very quickly. And very wet.” Claudine’s laugh held no humor. “The elementals have been getting worse. They’re still fighting each other, but not as much. Now they’re starting to work together against anyone who enters.”
As if summoned by her words, three more elementals rose from various pools throughout the bathhouse. Unlike the first two, these moved with coordinated purpose, flowing across the tiled floor toward the group.
“Alright then,” Mira said, drawing her sword. “Jorik, can your magic affect these things?”
“Aye, but they’re creatures of pure water. Physical attacks will be tricky.”
The first elemental crashed into Jorik’s shield like a tidal wave, sending the sturdy dwarf sliding backward across the wet tiles. Mira’s enchanted blade passed through its watery form, disrupting it momentarily before it reformed with an angry hiss.
Thane had found his element—literally. While his companions engaged the elementals directly, he’d discovered that the ornate drainage system throughout the bathhouse could be manipulated. “The pipes!” he called out, wedging his lockpicks into a bronze valve. “I can redirect their flow!”
Steam began rising from the pools as Thane’s sabotage worked. The elementals shrieked as their watery forms began to dissipate in the sudden heat. But their victory was short-lived—more elementals were rising from every pool and fountain in the establishment.
“There are too many of them!” Claudine cried. “It’s like they’re being summoned from somewhere!”
Mira dodged another liquid tendril and noticed something odd. All the elementals seemed to be emerging from pools connected to a particular section of ornate piping that ran behind the elevated stage where bards once played. “The source!” she shouted. “There’s something wrong with those pipes!”
Fighting their way through the chaos of battling water spirits, the group reached the suspicious pipe section. Unlike the others, this one hummed with magical energy and was carved with runes that seemed to shift and change when viewed directly.
“It’s a summoning portal,” Jorik breathed, his divine senses detecting the planar magic. “But the runes… they’re not quite right. Someone’s corrupted the spell.”
Thane was already examining the magical lock that sealed an access panel. “Give me a moment. This is more complex than usual, but…” There was a satisfying click as the panel swung open, revealing a small dimensional rift crackling with blue energy.
“I can close it,” Jorik said, raising his holy symbol. “But someone needs to hold off the elementals while I work.”
What followed was the most chaotic three minutes of Mira’s adventuring career. Water elementals poured from every corner of the bathhouse as if sensing their portal was threatened. She and Thane fought desperately to protect Jorik as he chanted prayers to seal the rift.
The elemental tide seemed endless until suddenly, with a sound like a drain being unplugged, the portal collapsed. The remaining water elementals froze, their forms losing cohesion as they were cut off from their source of power.
But their relief was short-lived.
“Well, well,” came a familiar voice from the bathhouse entrance. “Looks like someone’s been busy.”
They turned to see another group of adventurers—the party that had supposedly fled earlier. Their leader, a woman in expensive armor, smiled coldly as her companions moved to block the exits.
“You’re not here to help,” Mira realized. “You’re here to rob the place while it’s empty.”
“Clever girl. Poor Claudine’s safe is just sitting there unguarded while she hides from her little water problem. We were planning to let the elementals keep everyone away a bit longer, but you’ve complicated things.”
Claudine’s face went white. “You… you’re working with whoever sent the elementals?”
“Oh, we don’t know anything about your wizard friend,” the false adventurer laughed. “We just saw an opportunity and took it. Though I have to say, timing the heist for when your elemental problem was at its worst was inspired.”
The fight that followed was brutal but brief. These weren’t adventurers but well-equipped thieves, more used to stealth than honest combat. When faced with a party that had just survived a magical disaster, they found themselves outmatched and soon fled, slipping over the water as they ran for the exits.
As Jorik tended to his wounds, Claudine slumped against a marble bear statue, exhaustion finally claiming her. “My bathhouse is ruined. The tiles are cracked, the pools are contaminated with planar magic, and half my equipment is destroyed. I can’t afford to rebuild.”
Mira looked around the devastated interior. Rebuilding this place would cost a fortune. She didn’t know anyone with that kind of money.
Claudine raised her head slowly, lost in thought. Suddenly she sat up straight. “One of my patrons told me rumors about an untouched dungeon on the city’s outskirts, beneath the ruins of an abandoned home.” She looked at the players sheepishly.
“Are you asking us to help?” said Jorik, as he squeezed water from his long beard. “I’m listening. But lady, you’re going to need a lot of cash to build back a fancy place like this.”
Claudine’s eyes widened with hope. “I’ve heard the dungeon contains all sorts of wealth from an evil family that fled the city long ago. And you wouldn’t have to go alone.” She gulped, and straightened her back. “I could go with you. Earn my share.”
Thane sighed picking at his wet boots with a long dagger. “No hard feelings, but that’s a bad move. There’s no such thing as easy gold.” He looked around at the group, watching them nod their heads in turn. “We’ll get it for you.”
“You would do that? After seeing what kind of trouble I attract?”
“Everyone deserves a second chance,” Jorik said gruffly. “And we’d take a cut. If this place contains the treasures you hope, it should be worth our while. Besides, this place has good bones and is a part of the community. And we’d like to make sure it stays that way.”
Three months later, the Ursa Bathhouse reopened to great fanfare. The renovations had been extensive—new tiles, reinforced pipes, and most importantly, powerful protective wards courtesy of a local wizard who’d been happy to take some of the extra coin from the dungeon delve.
Mira lowered herself into the perfectly heated pool and sighed contentedly. The water was scented with rose petals, gentle melodies drifted from the elevated stage, and the marble bear statues gleamed in the torchlight.
“You know,” Thane said from the adjacent pool, “that was one serious dungeon, but it was worth it for this bath.”
“Don’t get too comfortable,” Jorik warned, though he was smiling. “Claudine mentioned something about strange noises coming from the old wizard’s manse across the district.”
Mira groaned and sank deeper into the warm water. “Can’t we have one peaceful evening in this beautiful bathhouse?”
But even as she spoke, she was already mentally preparing for whatever adventure tomorrow might bring. After all, the Theater District was never quiet for long, and someone had to keep the peace.
The water lapped gently against the pool’s edge, and for now, that was exactly as it should be.
This short story was created by Claude.AI, using the book “The Theater District” as the training set (the one page dungeon “Water Problems” was used). This is an experiment to see if the Heartwizard Games roleplaying supplements can be used as source material to generate stories. Hopefully you liked it!
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