Ch.2: "Trouble in Paradise" / Volcanic Paradise Island Arcadia

[Legendary Sidekick]

The van Donks act. Bridgette's approach prompts the men in black to hasten their exit, but she ignores them and goes to get help. Nissa helps Phoebe out of the cake, and Phoebe runs to Desma. She places her hands over Desma's wound, but Desma pulls it away.

She keeps pressure on the bandage, but manages a gesture that diverts Phoebe's attention to the dying man and Kell attempting to revive him.

"Him," she says to Phoebe.

"I'm not strong enough to…"

Desma repeats, "Him. Please."

Phoebe walks over to the man, places her hands on his throat, and begins sealing the wound. As she does, her skin seems to turn pale. She passes out. Both Phoebe and the man in black are on their backs, weak, but breathing. The man has a stripe of bright pink skin across his throat, but no wound. The rest of his skin is very pale. He lost a lot of blood, but Kell managed to delay the bleeding enough to buy time until he could be healed.

 

[tbgg]

Kelleia

Kell looks wide-eyed at the fairy, asking Desma, "Can all fairies do that, or is Phoebe special?"

"Let's get them both comfortable." After laying them both flat, she asks Hess, "Where is all of our stuff? I was thinking we could maybe use my chitons to keep them both warm until they become conscious."

Then she looks up at Leto and the Van Donks. "Unless one of you would be willing to loan a cloak or mantle or some such thing?"

 

[Ireth]

Leto

Leto immediately hands over her swan-feathered cape. "Here, use this."

 

[tbgg]

Kelleia

"Thanks, Leto," Kell says, immediately placing the cloak over the man.

"Do we have something we can place over Phoebe to keep her warm, too?"

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

Hess asks, "Can I hold her? Uncle Buck says I have very warm hands... and plus, she doesn't have wings. You have to be careful with a fairy's wings, but I'm always careful with fairies."

Desma tells Kell, "Different fairies have different magic. Phoebe's magic is healing, but her healing spell weakens her. She can probably heal other fairies without trouble, but if she heals a normal size person, it hurts her. Once she saw a boy skin his knee. She healed him, and then started limping everywhere. I couldn't stand it and ended up carrying her.

"When she comes to, I guess you can tell her what you came to tell her. If it's good news, that might help the healing process. Her magic seems to work better when she's in a good mood."

Hanna Barbaric (the one-eyed van Donk sister) asks, "What about the man in black. Do we question him?"

Blonde Sonja says, "She means in a non-hurty way."

Hanna shrugs.

 

[tbgg]

Kelleia

Kell tells Hess, "Yes, and do be careful with her. She just saved a life!"

She nods at Desma. "Alright, I'll tell her when she wakes."

She grins at the Van Donks. "Yes, I definitely think we should question the man in black. I'm hoping he'll be willing to switch sides, so to speak, given how little value the man in white seemed to have for his life. Or maybe that knife - I'm starting to wonder if that thing wasn't sentient - maybe even the Lava Demon itself."


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

A few minutes pass. Phoebe is asleep in Hess' hands. It turns out her seemingly nude act did involve a body suit to make her appear nude with white markings. After casting her healing spell, her skin color was closer to that of the white markings. Now she is the same shade of tan as her mostly flesh-tone body suit. She is breathing normally, but should probably rest a while.

Hess is very gentle. Kell is attuned to magic enough that she can detect an aura around the child-goddess' hands. It is fire magic, but different than any fire aura she has ever seen. Whatever magic Hess possesses doesn't seem capable of causing harm. Kell has seen elemental auras before, including auras that do no harm. But this is the first time she has seen a fire aura with such a gentle nature.



Bridgette returns with a young doctor and nurse (who seem to be a little too chummy and dress more stylishly than most men). They check on Desma and the man in black.

The doctor says, "They'll need rest. And meat. A rare steak will get the blood flowing."

"Oh, you and your meat," says the nurse. Of the man in black, the nurse says, "This man needs a new look." The nurse removes his colorful ascot and gives it to the man. "This will make your attire less suited for your own funeral. Not just the bold colors... the silk will protect you. I had some days where people wanted to rip my throat out." After a brief pause, the nurse gives an even briefer explanation as to why people tried to kill him: "I'm opinionated."

The van Donks look like they want to do more than ask questions. Nissa says to Kell and Leto, "How about you two handle the questioning. Our methods would defeat the purpose of the silk scarf."

Hanna says, "The scarf would serve a purpose, but we'll do this your way. If you need me to pluck an eyeball, just ask."

 

[tbgg]

Kelleia

Kell asks the doctor and nurse, "Is it safe to move him?" Gesturing toward Desma, Kell adds, "Desma here has a place nearby, and we want to talk to him about the man who did this to him. In case that man decides to come back and make sure his handiwork was lethal, I think it best we get the man in black out of here." She can't explain it, but she feels very protective toward the man in black. He seems more like a regular person than a goon, for all that he dresses the part.

She asks Desma, "Would you be OK with taking him to your place for a bit? Or if not, can you recommend someplace quiet that we could move him to that isn't too far away?"


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

The doctor says, "If you ladies need help moving him, the bouncers can…"

Bridgette steps forward and kneels down by the man.

The doctor looks her over. "Uh…"

Bridgette says, "I won't hurt him."

"Okay." The doctor says to Kell, "Yes, it's safe to move him as long as she's careful with his neck."

The nurse says, "What I gave him will protect his neck. That and this darling swan-feather cloak." He turns to Leto, "Did you make this yourself? Your style is…" He takes a good look at Leto's breelhide armor. "…daring. In a good way, I mean."

 

[tbgg]

Kelleia

Not wanting to get too distracted by a discussion of fashion, Kell stays focused on getting the man in black out of there. She looks over at Desma to see if something is distracting her friend from answering. "Desma? Did you hear my question?"

 

[Ireth]

Leto

Leto smiles and nods. "I did make it myself. I'm glad you like it. I've always thought it suited me. Took a long time to gather enough feathers for it without actually killing any swans, though."

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

VIP Room
"Oh…" Desma nods. "Yes. We can bring him to my room. I think it's safer than remaining here."

Desma leads the way, and Bridgette carries the man in black. She is gentle as promised.

As our heroines move up, Kell hears Helix's voice.

We got a lot of creepy guys out here. The man in the red and white suit's the creepiest. He gave me a weird look, but he didn't do anything. Just kept running. About twenty or so guys in black suits are following him. And now—get this! Three of the suits just doubled back—headed another way. I mean like they don't want the other twenty guys to notice.

Need me to do anything, or just hang back here?


The nurse says to Leto. "You have talent. Come to my office before you leave Arcadia."

The nurse gives Leto a business card.

Fabian Pfifer --------------------------- Fabulous Fashionista 55 Fashion Street, Arcadia Village

Desma's Room
By the time everyone crowds into Desma's room, the man in black is awake. Desma introduces herself and everyone else, though her tone doesn't make for a warm welcome. "You are in my home, and since we've both been cut by the same knife, I trust your chief will not get my address from you."

Bridgette adds, "You want me to have the same sense of trust. I am the only person standing between you and my sister."

She points to Hanna, whose otherwise bare chest is covered by several necklaces—so many that from a distance, it may look like she's wearing a backless half shirt. Even up close, the necklaces appear to be strings of pearls or beads at a glance. In fact, they are eyeballs which are apparently coated in a clear material to preserve them. There must be well over a hundred eyes, some human-sized, some larger. None seem to have been plucked from a human, but it's hard to tell since she's wearing so many, and some overlap each other.

The man swallows and says, "Vincent. Uh… that's my name. Vin for short. I guess if you wanted to take out my eyes, you wouldn't be blocking your sister's way, so uh…" He faces Desma. "You have a lovely home, Desma. Thank you for inviting me." Vin puts his hand over his throat. "Yeah, I mean it. The chief won't get this address from me."

 

[Ireth]

Leto

Leto smiles at the nurse's compliment, and takes the business card curiously. "Thank you. I definitely will."

She follows the others into Desma's room, and keeps her eyes on the man in the bed. "We have some questions for you, Vincent. First, why are you looking for virgins?"

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

Vin replies, "Well, being inexperienced myself, I hope one day to meet a woman who..." Stern looks from the van Donks prompt Vin to get to the point. "Virgin sacrifice. Honestly, I thought the chief meant he'd find me a wife and we'd consummate our marriage at the peak. I'd seen manuscripts depicting a virgin, naked and painted like the tiny woman on the cake. But her leaping into the volcano is making me think I've been duped.

"I guess a man with a knife that seeks virgin blood should have been my first warning. Though to be fair, I only saw him use it on one man. He slashed the man's throat because the man said he was a virgin, and he wanted a virgin bride, but the chief called bull--" Looking at Hess, Vin says, "--bullpoop. The bone blade was effective as a blade of grass. It went limp and didn't hurt the man at all. The man confessed he'd been with his cow once, and I was chosen in his stead.

"But now I'm sure Desma would just get tossed into the volcano if she'd been taken. Maribelle and Coleen will be killed as well, and so will their grooms. That knife'll go through them like warm butter, same way the chief almost killed me and Desma in a single blow."

 

[tbgg]

Kelleia

Kell thinks to Helix, Those are the same creeps we encountered. The guy in white cut Desma's hand, very nearly cut Phoebe, and slit the throat of another guy in black whose life we just saved. We just learned it's not the first time the man in white has done that, too. We're going to try to find out more about the guy in white from him. Please follow the other three. My guess is, they're just trying to get away from the guy in white, but I want to make sure they haven't been sent to double back here.

Then she thinks, Helix, I don't want to go butting into your personal life, but that guy in white has a seriously creepy fixation with virgins of both genders. If you yourself are a virgin, that might explain his odd look, which means he might not even care about species! He carries a bone knife that gets pretty twitchy when it identifies a virgin. I think the knife might be sentient, and it might even be a disguise for the Lava Demon itself, though those are both guesses on my part. Keep a wide berth from the man in white and the knife, OK? It turns out that Phoebe has healing magic, but just healing the man in black wiped her out - she won't have the resources to heal you if you get your throat slit. The only reason we were able to save the man in black at all is I was able to immediately jump in and staunch the flow of blood with a bandage until Phoebe could be persuaded that it was safe to come out of the giant volcano cake.

Kell now faces Vin. "Are all of the men in black virgins? And how did he find Maribelle, Coleen, and their grooms? Does he stalk wedding-related shops or something?"

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

Vin says, "Maribelle and Coleen were already seeing two of the men. Bensen's with Coleen and Jerome is Mari's guy. They were seen as honorable couples, which I now realize is because of the knife. The rest of the guys are just the chief's loyal followers except Wilbur, whose girl is still innocent but I don't know if she wants to marry Wilbur knowing he's been with a cow. I think she'd have forgiven him had he been with other women, even while courting her. But the cow thing really weirded her out. The chief tried to fix me up with her, but Jenny's still Wilbur's girl in my mind. And now that I know what would happen to any bride of mine, I need to get out of Arcadia before I go around courting anyone.

"I don't think Wilbur, Bensen or Jerome knew what we were getting into. The other twenty… I don't even know their names. They find it amusing the way the knife throbs when we get too close. Except Wilbur, of course. I don't think the knife can hurt the chief and his other men, though I ain't seen any wives or women around them."

Phoebe wakes up and Vin says to her. "You gotta believe I didn't know. Good thing that knife didn't get you. Your little body would be in pieces."

Phoebe says, "It did hit me. I must have been hit with the flat of the blade. It put a lump on my head, but I'll be okay."

Sonja says, "You were hit with the blade, honey. I'm surprised you're the only one here who's been with a man. I'm not sure I want to know how."

Phoebe is taken aback by Sonja's words. "I'm not sure I want to know how you arrived at that conclusion. I didn't think my reputation was so bad people on the island for the first time would hear gossip about me. So let me clear up one thing: any partying I've done with humans was nothing like that! Ever.

"I know the racy costumes make me look like I'd do anything for a coin, and maybe I deserve that judgment. But I was never unfaithful to the one fairy who tried to stop me from the drinking and the idiocy I got myself into. And even after Sapphire had the sense to move on, I never sought another lover. I'm not ready to break another heart yet." With a look of disgust, she adds, "And I mean a fairy's heart. I certainly wouldn't permit a human to…!" The fairy shudders.

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

Helix replies to Kell:

Oh, I know I come off as handsome and chivalrous like the knightly steed that I am, but I've had my share of mares—unicorns and horses. I even once had a nice trot through the Sardis Forest with a kentauride. I mean, she's half human, so of course for her to be with anyone but a centaur is weird, but we had a nice conversation.

I mean, I just whinnied 'cause she ain't a mind-reader, but I really wish there were a unicorn lass with a kentauride's mind. That's the curse of being a unicorn with a human brain. Fortunately, I ain't attracted to the human body; otherwise, who knows? Me and a kentauride… yeah. That ain't right.

But I'm glad you got me talking, Kell. It's weird for me to know your personal details and only fair you know a little about mine. Honestly, though, there's not much to tell. I can show you the mating dance I if you really want to see it and I can tell you about how I've fenced with rival males—oh! And I'm undefeated despite my horn being a few inches shorter than average. The human brainpower gives me a tactical advantage. But once I win the girl, it's just physical, and trust me, it's fun to experience but no fun to talk about.

Anyway, good on you for saving the bad guy. Tell me how it works out. I don't sense your virginity is in danger. He might attack you, but the good news is if he does, it's just to kill you. Hope that helps!

 

[tbgg]

Kelleia

Kell decides that now's as good a time as any to give Phoebe the news. Looking at the fairy, she says very gently, "But Phoebe, Sapphire hasn't moved on. She's the one who asked us to find you if we came this way, and please trust me when I say that she's confused, broken-hearted, and very definitely worried about you."

She also tells Phoebe, "Look, you were stuck in the cake while a lot of the action was going on, so I don't know how much you could hear clearly, but your customer in white owns a knife that seems to thirst for the blood of virgins. It's what cut Desma and slashed Vin's throat. I mean no judgment at all with this, but if it only thumped you on the back of your head, it probably identified you as not being a virgin. That's all Sonja is getting at."

She asks Vin, "So you, Bensen, Wilbur, and Jerome and your girls seem to have been chosen out by this guy, but as far as you know, the remaining men in black are goons of the man in white? I don't know if Bensen, Wilbur, and Jerome are friends of yours or not, but a friend of mine just reported that three of the men in black looked like they were trying to sneak away from the main group. I had him follow them to make sure they weren't sneaking back here to cause more problems. I'm betting those are the three remaining grooms. Do you want me to have my friend tell them to come back here for you?"

"I have several more questions to ask, so don't think you're getting out of town anytime soon. Though I do have a friend with a farm who might be persuaded to put you up for a few days if you don't mind doing a little farm work. It's at least not in the city proper. His daughter was accosted and very nearly sacrificed in the volcano just this morning by a group who we think might be affiliated with your chief. We intervened and saved her."

More to herself, she says, "At the very least, the two groups might have been hired by the same entity to hunt down virgins."

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

Phoebe's eyes start to tear up. She looks at the other ladies in the room. Hess whispers, "It's true. Sapphie says your her best friend ever."

Phoebe looks at Kell, "Thank you. I don't know what to do, but… thank you."

Desma takes Phoebe aside so the fairy doesn't have to cry in front of everyone. Desma seems a bit emotional over this herself, but she doesn't look nearly as confused as Phoebe.


Vin answers Kell's questions. "Goons? Yeah, you could say that. Benson and Jerome are like brothers to each other, and Wilbur's like a weird cousin to all of us. Good guy to talk to, not the kind of guy you emulate. I'm on better terms with them than the goons, and I thought I was the chief's favorite. More like his number one sap, it seems.

"Oh, I'll work for that farmer if that's what you intend for me instead of turning me in. There's a bounty on the chief and I'm sure I'm worth a bag of silver myself. But if you can get a friend of yours to get Wilbur, Ben and Jerry, we'll do farm work and anyone who wants the farmer's daughter needs to get through us. Maybe Wilbur can take the chief since the bone knife can't hurt him. I suppose the farm has cattle, but nah… I don't want to be immune to the chief's weapon that badly."

Vin seems open to other questions, and even seems to trust our heroines aren't going to harm or incarcerate him. It could be his gullible nature, or maybe Kell's instinct about him is correct…


Helix's observation verifies some of Vin's story. The three men have come to the same conclusion as Vin: the wedding ceremony is a rouse, and the chief really wants to sacrifice six virgins, three male, three female. Helix overheard the names Vin mentioned, including Jenny's. Perhaps marrying Wilbur and Jenny and the other couples still gets five virgins—or would if Wilbur wasn't in the doghouse right now—and Vin would've attended the wedding as the sixth.

That's the gist of what they're saying, Helix says of the men. They think Vin's dead and that makes the chief a sacrificial virgin short even if Jenny still agrees to marry Wilbur. On the other hand, they noticed the chief's knife was attracted to every woman at the next table. They're wondering if gender matters, or if the chief just needs to take one of you ladies to get his six virgins—or all of you if the wedding isn't fooling anyone at this point.

Now they're not saying much, and I'm not sure they know where to run or whether to run. I'm not sure what to do with them either. But hey, that's why you're the heroine and I'm the sidekick. And frankly, I like this arrangement. All the other nymphs always needed me to tell them what to do, but not you. You're decisive. So… got a decision? Tell me and I'll run with it! I'll gallop with it! Gallop, I say! I say it telepathically!

…yup.

 

[tbgg]

Kelleia

Kell thinks to Helix, Get the three men to come back to Hearth Throb. Vin is the guy we saved, so he's not dead. I'm working on a safe place for Vin, but I think we ought to do the same for the other three and the three fiancees as well. I think it's reasonable to assume that the man in white might come back to Hearth Throb to inquire about Desma and Phoebe, and that their place will be discovered. That means we can plan an ambush if the others are willing, but I need to talk to the others about that.

Kell asks Hess, "Patty Melt is the O.P. who lives here in Arcadia. Do you happen to know anything about where she lives? Or how to find your Uncle Buck in this city?"

She tells Desma, "I think it's very possible that the man in white will send his goons back here in search of a virgin to replace Vin and that someone here at Hearth Throb will tell them you live here. Leto, I, and the Van Donk sisters are equipped for a battle, but unless you're hankering to risk your life, I think it's best you and Phoebe get out of here until we deal with them. I also want to find temporary safe places for the three fiancees. Do you think your aunt and uncle would be willing to put up 2-5 women tonight for an emergency?"

She tells Vin, "I've asked my friend to bring your three friends here. I'm not requiring you to work on the farm, and in fact, I might might be able to come up another location where you can stay. But if you and your friends need a safe place to stay for a few days until you can come up with a long-term plan, we can help you figure something out."

Finally she tells Leto and the Van Donk sisters, "I think we can plan an ambush here tonight for the man in white and his goons, or we can just try to avoid trouble and sleep elsewhere. There are merits to both plans, and I'll support either. But you're each part of this and I want to hear what you think. Or if you can think of a different option, put that out there."

I need to change into my Chiton of Enlightenment as soon as I can!