Ch.1: "By the Fire" / Village of Ogygia

[Legendary Sidekick]

Sapphire's eyes are flowing with tears as she speaks. "It's been a month already, hasn't it? With the burnings and the monsters, where does the time…?" She flies up to Kell and clings to the nymph's cheek. The tiny fairy is smaller than a woman's face, so this has to suffice as a hug. "If you tell me she's alive and well, even that's something."

 

[tbgg]

Kelleia

Kell rubs the tiny fairy gently and says, "Well, the good news is, that's not very long, although I'm sure it seems like forever to you. We'll do what we can. I'll ask Aphrodite to help out a little bit on this one. This is right up my goddess' alley." Kell doesn't stop to find it inconsistent that she won't talk to the goddess about her own life, but is more than happy to when it involves someone else's chance at love and happiness.

"Now, have I paid you for those two chitons, or have I completely spaced that out?" she asks with a smile.

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

"You're the best," Sapphire says. "Thank you so much!"

Copper confirms that all purchases have been taken care of.

Hess asks Leto, "Shall we head back to the surface, or do you want to wait here for Uncle Buck? Oh… and are you still going after the breel?"

Sapphire says, "Yeah, I better lower the changing screen and stay back this time, if you're going to wear the periwinkle."

 

[Ireth]

Leto

"I think it might be better to wait for Buck." Leto looks at Kell. "We're going after the breel, right? Even without Akantha?" The thought of facing something like that without Akantha's strength is a bit daunting. Hopefully they'll find more help along the way.

 

[tbgg]

Kelleia

Kell agrees. She tells Sapphire, "Yeah, we're going after the breel, so I'd better have the periwinkle chiton. And you'd better keep a safe distance so I don't inadvertently influence you."

She tells Hess and Leto, "Wait up a moment while I change right quick. I want to be ready for the breel."

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

Leto and Kell decide the breel hunt is still on. Perhaps waiting for Buck to return is the best way to ensure there is help. He has mentioned members of the Orange Phœnix in Nyse and Arcadia. Could any of those monster hunters be here in Ogygia?

Hess sits down by the hearth. When she does, the flames begin to rise and burn white hot. The child doesn't mind this at all.

"So warm!"

Leto finds the flames blinding to look at, initially, as does Kell the moment she exits the changing room. Bright as the flames are, the temperature in the room is pleasant. It appears that the flames are confined to the hearth. The fairies seem excited by this, their tiny voices chirping in apparent anticipation. They're all talking over each other. Our heroines can only pick up Sapphire's question: "Who's on?"

 

[tbgg]

Kelleia

As she tucks away the Aqua Scrunchy, Kell asks Sapphire, "Why is the flame in the hearth so white hot? What does that mean?"

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

Sapphire beckons Kell over. "Come to the table. You'll see!"

Midori signals Leto over as well. "We can all sit together, if you don't mind us sitting on your hands or shoulders."

Kell, Leto and the fairies find a way to crowd around the table on the side across from (and facing) the hearth. Hess sits close to the fire, but she seems to know enough not to burn herself, and the fairies' reactions indicate they're quite certain the child is in no danger. The fairies sit on the table or on any hand or shoulder that is offered to them.

The ten fairies and two women watch Hess and the flames…


By the Fire
Hess' eyes glow blue-white as she stares into the flames, which are now still mostly white, but with vertical tongues of red and gold. The red and gold lines grow wider as they move outward, but never beyond the rectangular wall of fire. The flames form a moving picture, like the view of a person walking through the Tigerwood Forest that surrounds the village. In fact, they may very well be. Patterns of fire begin to resemble four people walking. Two are large. Two are smaller. One of the smaller ones is fat. One of the larger ones has a feminine shape, like a naked woman, or one who wears very little clothing or a form-fitting outfit.

Hess begins to speak, but her voice is that of a grown man, someone who probably makes announcements for kings or something like that…

ORACLE: "Good afternoon, ladies. All you regulars need no introduction, but for you first-time listeners, I'm Bob Oracle. And right now we are live in the Tigerwood because someone out there in the hearthland is worried about a friend!"

Sapphire crosses her arms and whispers to Midori, "I've been worried about Phœbe for a month, and he never says squat about her, that meathead!"

ORACLE: "Communication is a two-way street; however, I'd like to keep the top segment a one-way street for the benefit of all listeners. I will be taking calls shortly.

"As I was saying we are live. The visions in the flames are not actors, they are Karl Dragonsbane the Wyvern-slayer, Wallace the Iron Wall, Goros the Bareknuckle-healer, and Akantha the Amazon Princess. Let's get close and personal for our Personal Story segment."

The vision shows a hand with a strange rod that is not much bigger than a fairy and round at the end. The hand moves the round part close to the fiery image of Akantha. It's hard to make out her eyes clearly, but she seems to be looking at a man next to her, and is unaware of the rod near her face. Our heroines are pretty sure Akantha would not put up with an object brazenly thrusted so close to her mouth.

Hess' voice becomes Akantha's.

AKANTHA: "The Xarris boy is part of it. You saw the poster."

Her voice changes again, and Leto recognizes it as the voice of the wyvern-slayer.

KARL: "It's part of the business. We all know the risk. Your little friends are nice, but they've proven they're not just a couple of pretty faces."

GOROS: "The nymph was prob'ly purdy. I wish we stuck around to see her in her new outfit."

WALLACE: "It's not the outfit you were hoping to see."

Hess somehow manages to bellow a deep laugh and a "Shut up!" at the same time.

AKANTHA: "She saved my life. Speak of her with respect, you—"

Hess' teeth contort into an awkward square-shaped expression. She makes a sustained "Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep!"

KARL: "Knock it off, both of you! Akantha's right, if the beast hungers…"

WALLACE: "Yeah. Better those girls aren't around."

GOROS: "Well… uh… shouldn't we also not be around?"

KARL: "You're on the back line. Without your healing, we're all dead."

WALLACE: "I'm on the front."

AKANTHA: "Not in front of me!"

The images of Akantha and the men wander on in silence—then, in the blink of an eye, the flames form the shape of a bald man with a neatly-trimmed beard. He is sitting at a desk, speaking into his strange, small rod.

ORACLE: "Well, it seems our monster hunters have nothing to say, so now's as good a time as any to start taking calls! First caller!"

 

[tbgg]

Kelleia

Kell asks, "What does Akantha mean by, 'The Xarris boy is part of it'? We know he's part of what got her in trouble, but I got the sense she meant something beyond that. What is he part of?" She doesn't know if this Bob Oracle can answer this question, but figures he'll tell her if he can't.

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

By the Fire
Bob Oracle nods in Kell's direction.

ORACLE: "An excellent question! Graeae, roll the image back a bit."

A no-eyed lady peeks her head into the vision.

GRAEAE: "Fiiiiiine."

Graeae starts tampering with a large eyeball in her hand. The image changes, depicting Akantha and the men.

KARL: "So why did you leave without them? Are you really worried about the Xarris kid connecting the dots?"

AKANTHA: "That's part of it. They saved my life. I don't want to bring them on a hunt that will get them killed."

WALLACE: "You amazons are always making wild predictions. How many of them actually happen?"

AKANTHA: "None! The point of predicting how battle unfolds is to change tactics accordingly. If the breel hasn't eaten, one of us will die on this hunt. You think I want a sweet-smelling nymph around a hungry breel?"

GOROS: "It would really eat the purdy one?"

AKANTHA: "Would you choose broccoli over a cupcake?"

Hess answers "No" in Goros' voice and "Yes" in Wallace's voice at the same time.

KARL: "Wallace has a point. You don't know the breel would go after the nymph or the huntress."

AKANTHA: "That's not the point. The point is to protect them. They saved me."

KARL: "And you turned your back on them as payment. And you lied to Hess about the reason."

AKANTHA: "I didn't lie. The Xarris boy can link them to me, then the Hade's Angel's poster is bull—BEEP. I may be a lot of things, but I'm not a—"

Bob Oracle is back a his desk making impatient gestures to some unseen person to the side.

ORACLE: "She gets the point, Graeae. Akantha didn't lie. She has a multi-faceted reason for abandoning her little sisters, hungry breel, vindictive son of the dead judge, and maybe some other reasons we are unable to air on the Hearthvision™."

Bob faces Kell.

ORACLE: "I hope that answers your question. I might add a little factoid about monsters. A monster like the breel won't distinguish the scent of a nymph from a human, male or female. If anything, Akantha is more likely to be eaten since she's bigger, and therefore provides more nourishment. As for those monsters who do respond to a nymph's pheromones, that tends to work in your favor. You can charm those monsters. Consider that a monster-hunting tip from Flaming Bob!"

GRAEAE: "Nobody calls you that, meathead!"

ORACLE: "I call me that!"

 

[tbgg]

Kelleia

Kell asks Oracle Bob, "Can you tell us about Phoebe on Arcadia? Do you know why she abandoned Sapphire?"

 

[Ireth]

Leto

I look at Kell with a bit of a frown, and murmur to her. "That's a bit of a personal question, isn't it?"

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

By the Fire
ORACLE: "Yes, it IS a personal question! Fortunately, this is our Personal Story segment, which means it's highly appropriate. Unfortunately, you're asking about the wrong person.

"Grææ, when are we going on-location in Arcadia?"

GRÆÆ: "We're doing a story on the Lava Demon in three weeks?"

ORACLE: "Three weeks? Why do we schedule monster stories so far in advance? Remember the Chimera story? We were about to reveal the real father?"

GRÆÆ: "Oh, shoot. I remember the story, but I can't remember the reveal! Was it the lion, the goat or the snake?"

ORACLE: "I forgot because I didn't care anymore—and neither did out listeners since the monster hunters killed the Chimera one week before our scheduled program. We ended up doing a 'special report' on some kind of flower that sings to itself. Bored one listener so much he extinguished the flames in his hearth, despite frigid temperatures."

Bob turns to Sapphire.

ORACLE: "Phœbe of Arcadia. I'll look into it, but it's only being aired if someone kills the Lava Demon at some point in the next three weeks."

He looks at Leto, then at Kell.

ORACLE: "If you have any questions about Akantha or, I suppose, any goings on in the Tigerwood, we can get a feed there."

 

[tbgg]

Kelleia

Kell murmurs back to Leto, "I wasn't asking for myself, I was asking so Sapphire could get some closure. She obviously wants it badly enough to tell relative strangers her story. I would have been more than happy to get up and go in the other room if Sapph had wanted it. If it comes to YOUR personal stuff, though, I promise to ask you first before asking anyone else, OK? Or to let you ask yourself, if you'd prefer that instead."

Kell asks Oracle Bob, "Are there any other hunters in the Tigerwood area who could help us hunt the breel?"

 

[Ireth]

Leto

She smiles and nods in understanding at Kell's answer. "Alright."

When Kell asks another question, Leto looks back at the Oracle to await his answer.

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

By the Fire
ORACLE: "Another excellent question from our new listener. Grææ, can we get a feed in the village?"

GRÆÆ: "Oh, yes, Bob. You know how much I love having my second eye shoot through the forest. I mean, I haven't gone half blind yet taking this unnecessary risk, so why should today be different?"

Grææ's eye is apparently shooting through the forest. You see a rapid animation in the flames—the red and gold images of trees racing into the foreground. In about a minute, the view is that of the village center. Somewhere above is the Temple of Demeter. In it is a bald woman with nine red spots (red in the fiery image, at least) on top of her head. Her skin is three shades of fire—white, pink, gold—which make her appear to have been pieced like a jigsaw puzzle. None of the other people have this pattern in their skin. They look normal, though fire-colored.

An on-screen display introduces this bald woman:

無塵​

Wu Chen
Orange Phœnix
&
Ninth Master of Wire Fu​

Wu Chen sits cross-legged in meditation until the words fade. She rises, then approaches a temple window. She sees the 200-foot-tall tree created by Kell's magic—and likely, as Kell presumed, enhanced by divine intervention—maybe from Demeter herself.

The nun reaches her arm toward the tree, then zips away. The vision turns to the tree, to the temple, the sky…

ORACLE: "I hope you have your answer, Kell, because THIS JUST IN! Karl Dragonsbane, Three-time Wyvern-slayer has located the breel!"

GRÆÆ: "You mean I gotta go through all those damn Tigerwoods AGAIN?"

ORACLE: "Sorry, Grææ! And sorry to you two ladies who were hoping to hunt it yourself. Looks like you'll need to sit and watch. If the Grææ eye ever gets to the hunt."

GRÆÆ: "You try flying an eyeball through a forest! It's not that easy to steer!"

The second Grææ eye eventually makes it to a clearing where the hunting party is confronting the breel. The fairies remain on the edges of their seats, and our heroines remain silent about whatever they might be feeling about Akantha and the hunters abandoning them.

The breel is seen in the vision. It has three glowing eyes—though it's hard to say whether they really glow, since Hearthvision™ is made of fire—and its round mouth is just wide enough that the monster can swallow a person whole.

ORACLE: ​"It's hard for you people in the hearthland to see this, but our monster-hunting team can see inside—and to an extent, through—the breel. In other words, Akantha's prediction has been confirmed. There is no creature being digested by the breel now, meaning—"

AKANTHA: "It hungers!"

KARL: "I'm rolling the shocker!"

The scarred man reaches into his trap bag, as Akantha and Wallace draw the breel's attention. But before he can roll it, the breel hunches over, mouth open wide—

—Hess stands by the hearth hunched over, and her mouth opens wide—

BREEL: "ROOOOOOOOOOOOAR!"

The sound is so deafening, you find it impossible to move. Your ears ring, and you can see that the hunters are also unable to move. The breel's oak-trunk-thick forelimbs tromp through the clearing. It has plenty of time to choose its next meal.

Akantha and Wallace are both very large people, but the bulk of Wallace's armor makes him the bigger target. Whether he's the most fulfilling meal or the one the breel considers the greatest threat is unknown. What is known to Kell, Leto, the fairies and the hunters: Wallace the Iron Wall is at the mercy of a merciless beast. Nothing can be done to save him.

Even the mighty Akantha cannot move. She can only watch as the breel lurches over. Its long fangs easily pierce through Wallace's armor. The man's limbs flail wildly. Hess' mouth moves. She is voicing Wallace's agonizing cries of pain, and tears fall from Hess' eyes. She isn't facing the flames, but seeing that she is the voice of everyone in the vision, she surely knows what is happening.

Akantha and Karl charge the breel, but the monster doesn't stick around to fight. It flies up. Though it hasn't taken any wounds, it seems to be having trouble. The three remaining hunters run after it from the ground. Karl fires a small handheld cannon at the breel as they run, but it seems the breel has escaped.

You can hear again, but now the flames show Bob Oracle in a panic.

ORACLE: "Oh, the humanity! I want to apologize to the new members of our audience, my show is NOT about exploiting tragedy. Ladies, if you intend to hunt down the breel, be sure to see Wu Chen first and tell her what you have witnessed. Tell her an Orange Phœnix has fallen to the breel. She will help you."

Bob sighs. His eyes drop to his desk.

ORACLE: ​"This is Bob Oracle… signing off. Happy Hunting. Yeah. Happy. Fu—BEEP—this."

Hess drops to her knees, sobbing quietly as the flames in the hearth once again burn normally.

 

[Ireth]

Leto

Leto sits rigid with horror at the sight of the breel, and the roar that comes from Hess' mouth only makes things worse. Not to mention the images that follow. When the Hearthvision fades and Hess starts to sob, Leto takes a deep breath, then moves over to pull the girl into a hug.

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

Hess wraps her arms around Leto.

"Why'd he have to die? Buck did so much for him. He was gonna turn his life around. He was…"

The child is unable to control her sobs, but some of the fairies are able to remain strong.

Sapphire says to Kell, "Don't you even think of throwing your life away. You go see Wu Chen and tell her everything, especially how the monster stunned them. And us too! If you can't defend against that roar, don't you dare hunt the breel!"

 

[tbgg]

Kelleia

Kell says to Sapphire, "Seems like we'd need...a spell of temporary deafness, or something, for sure. And we'd definitely talk to Wu Chen. It would be stupid not to."

Kell then places a hand on Hess' back, just supporting the girl until her sobs subside.

She also gives Leto a look that says plainly, Are you sure you want to get into this?

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

Sapphire shrugs. "Humans say we're the magic experts... I mean fairies and nymphs. But I never heard of a deafness spell. Have you?" She covers her mouth. "Oh! I don't mean to make it sound so hopeless. You definitely have a good idea. Hey! If that hearth is showing what's happening right now, that means Wu Chen's in the big tree in the center of… wait. How'd a tree get there?"

Leto and Kell have managed to calm Hess. The girl even manages to find some humor in the fairy's confusion. "I'll tell you later, Sapphie." Turning to the women, Hess says, "Why don't you two go to Wu Chen while you still know where to find her. She calls herself a Flying Nun or something. She doesn't like to stay still or walk on the ground like a normal person. I know Akantha talked about me tagging along, but… I better not go on a breel hunt. Besides, Buck missed Mr. Oracle's show, so me and the fairies will have to tell him about Sir Wallace."

She takes Leto's hand in her left and Kell's in her right. Her hands are warm. Comfortably warm.

"You two have to come back, okay? I'll be here by the fire. I promise I'll wait and if I don't see you by nightfall I'll make Mr. Oracle tell me where you are and no matter what happens…" The child goes silent for a moment, then says, "If you can find a way to be deaf, the roar won't do anything. Yeah, you two can stop this monster. You're smart, and that's why you'll win."


((You can go out the door where Buck came in, or go up the tree and the vines will open up for you.

* Roll Acrobatics if you scale the hollow tree. 10+ = climb with ease, 5-9 = struggle, 1-4 = can't do it, but the vines come alive and assist you. The tree leads straight to Wu Chen sitting on a branch just below you.
* The door leads to steps which lead to the streets, which are full of curious onlookers staring up at the tree. None of them recognize you from the battle, though Kell will draw a lot of attention simply because she's a nymph. Stealth roll of 7+ = people don't pay attention to you.))