[NPC] Dr. Singh
Hello once again science lovers! It's time for the next voting and discussion thread for Hero's Journey, our first ever Adventure Evolving Item (or AEI for short)! This week's poll will close on Friday, April 15th at 4:59 PM PDT. Your votes will determine the next evolution of this gripping tale and its associated item set! As always, choose wisely, because once a decision has been reached, there's no going back!
In case you missed our tale, here's the rundown:
Hero's Journey:Vander took a deep breath and plunged into the flames. Through the thick smoke, he could barely see the path ahead, but he knew that somewhere in this smoldering cottage his best friend was in peril. Lyel was a mutt, a former stray, and about as well-trained as a fish, but he was Vander's pup nonetheless, and so the youth was dashing right into the heart of the fire to retrieve him from the remains of the tired old building. It wasn't until halfway down the hallway that he heard a shrill but familiar scream. Aidah?! She must have charged in after Lyel too, once she'd seen the smoke. Damn. As he began to change course, the villagers outside sounded the alarm: The cottage was about to collapse. Two directions, two dear friends, and he could save only one.
A choice needed to be made.
Gaians voted to save Lyel!
Vander stood frozen in panic for only a moment before Lyel began barking more loudly than before. Wait, not louder-- closer! "Lyel! C'mere boy!" Vander shouted and dashed towards the area he knew Aidah was trapped, hoping Lyel was following his voice to safety. As he reached the edge of the smoke, Vander's whole world suddenly tore to pieces.
The bright flash and searing heat were bad enough, but the sheer force of the blast threw the boy directly through the rapidly collapsing walls of the battered cottage. Lyel must have been directly behind Vander at the time of the explosion, as somehow the pup seemed shaken, but perfectly fine. As his eyes regained focus through the haze of destruction, Vander saw that Aidah was somehow unharmed... other than being in the talons of shadowy beast perched directly atop the wreckage.
It hissed to Vander directly before taking flight, clutching Aidah's limp body as it soared high beyond the clouds. Lyel howled as they lost sight of the figure.
Where could he go from here?
Gaians voted to form a rescue party!
Realizing that the situation was dire and he needed to act as quickly and effectively as he could, Vander headed toward the nearby town to get some help taking down the beast that had captured Aidah. However, as soon as he got into town and started searching through the people in town for someone to help him, he felt his pocket grow inexplicably lighter.
A quick blur of a woman darted past him, and in her hand he spotted a very familiar bit of leather—his wallet, which held all of his worldly wealth that remained after the fire. Vander chased after her and grabbed her arm, trying to hold the woman back before she could make a break for it. "Hey, that's my wallet, you thief! You give that back!"
"Leave me alone, you creep!" she shouted, pulling her arm away. A murmur of disapproval swept through the marketplace as Vander seemingly accosted this poor girl. If only they knew! She stared him down with a devilish grin, then in a singsong voice she added, "And you will never find me~!"
"Hey, wait!" he started, but before Vander could process what was going on, she'd turned and ran through the crowd. A hearty chuckle alerted Vander to a brawny armored man resting on the edge of the beaten path nearby. "I saw that scene, kid. I'd give you a hand for some coin, y'know." He gestured to his own satchel of money. "Assuming there's any left once you catch her of course." It was shaping up to be the worst day in Vander's life, but he once again had to figure out what to do. Should he take the thief on by himself, or should he ask the mercenary to help him take her on, knowing he'd have to pay the mercenary back once he'd recovered his wallet?
Gaians voted to hire the mercenary!
It didn't take much for Vander to realize that he couldn't do everything on his own, and he went into town to gather help to save Aidah in the first place, so hiring the mercenary made sense no matter how he looked at it. "Yeah, I could use the help. I'll pay you once I've got my wallet back."
The brawny man laughed and replied, "You got it, kid. The name's Mason, in case that's important to ya." Without another word, Mason took off through the crowd, chasing after the thief with a large, swift stride. Vander followed after Mason, and Lyel trailed right alongside him.
Set near the side of a hill, the village roads were winding and poorly paved, and in the haste to get away from them and out of the village, the thief took a running leap and bounded over the short stone wall surrounding the village outskirts. With his large frame, Mason cleared the wall in one jump, and Lyel cleared it in a jump as well, the tips of his paws ghosting over the top of the wall for only a moment before he landed on the other side. Vander jumped over as well, but as he flew over it, his foot caught on the top of the fence, sending him careening into the ground on the other side. When he pushed himself to stand up, something in his leg felt very different, and rather painful.
At the sound of Vander hitting the ground, Mason stopped and looked back to him. "You alright, kid?"
Vander wasn't sure. His leg felt strange and he didn't know whether or not he could run, but was there time to see a healer? After all, the thief was making off with all his money! Should he stop and ask for more help, or should he keep after the thief so she can't get away with all of his money?
Gaians voted to find a healer!
Vander did his best to keep standing, although the longer he stood the more painful it became to stand. Begrudgingly, he accepted that he'd done more than hurt himself a little jumping over the fence, and that seeing a healer was going to have to take priority over chasing after the thief. "Mason, do you know of any healers? I think I hurt myself worse just now than I expected. We'll have to catch up to that thief after."
Mason shrugged, a wry smile on his face. "I dunno about a healer, but I do know someone who I'm pretty sure can do some magic for you anyway." He looked down the road for a second and then looked back. "Plus, she's close by and I'm pretty sure she'll do it for free, which, considering your wallet just ran off, that's probably about as good as it's gonna get."
With a sigh, Vander realized the mercenary was right, and he limped his way toward Mason. "Alright, let's get this over with, and then we can get back to tracking down that thief so I can get my money back and get on my way to helping Aidah."
Mason led Vander and Lyel toward a small house on the outskirts of the town. The field outside was completely barren, and a dark, gloomy light seemed to sit on the building. When Vander stepped inside the building, he had the feeling that he was likely to die right where he stood.
The girl standing across the room didn't seem to help matters, even though she looked much more alive than the rest of the space. "Fufufufu, long time no see, Mason...what brings you out here today?" The laughter sent a chill up Vander's spine, and he turned to look at Mason, who merely gestured back at him. "He's in bad shape, I see. Well that leaves one of two options, doesn't it, fufufu...Coming to Sable the necromancer for health reasons, who would have thought?"
"What?! You're a necromancer?!" Vander said in disbelief.
"That's right!" She shouted, gleeful. "Now, there are one of two ways to go about this. Either I can heal you and you owe me something big down the line, or I can make you undead and you'll never have to worry about dying again!"
Vander's face went pale. He knew his leg needed treating, but he didn't want to be even more in debt than he already was, much less indebted to a necromancer! But on the other hand, he didn't want to be undead either. This day was getting worse and worse with every passing minute, but if he was going to save Aidah, he'd have to decide, and fast.
Gaians voted to have Sable heal Vander!
It went without saying that Vander wasn't willing to become a zombie, no matter how in pain he was. With a grimace and a sigh that went on perhaps longer than he should have let it, he grunted, "Fine, I'll owe you and pay you back later, whatever, let's just get this healing thing over with..."
Sable let out a cackle of a laugh that echoed inside of the small house, then pulled a staff out from behind her back and raised it into the air. She muttered a number of things in a language that Vander definitely did not speak, or even understand, but right as he began to wonder what trouble he'd gotten himself into, he spotted the rabbit head on the staff. A second later he noticed the rabbit seemingly sprouting out of the ground...
The next thing he knew, Vander was being lifted to his feet by Mason, and found himself able to stand on his legs as though nothing had happened in the first place. He stared at his own legs and feet, then looked up at Mason, who merely shrugged and pointed at Sable, who had a maniacal grin on her face. "There, see! Toldja I could do it! Me and Lapbie made you good as new! Shame you didn't pick bein' a zombie though, we coulda had a lot of fun. Lapbie seems to know a lot about the two of you, by the way..."
Vander looked down at the green and very dead (although somewhat cute-looking) rabbit at Sable's side, then back at Mason, who frowned at Sable. "What do you mean, knows a lot about the two of us? What sorta nonsense is that? We just met today, how much could that thing possibly know?"
"Not like that, silly," Sable replied. "Lapbie knows you're chasing after a thief who stole all of your monies! And Lapbie knows that thief went to Voleur Den, too! You should head out to the west and find her there, you know. You can—"
"Wait a minute," Mason said, cutting Sable off. "Voleur Den is out to the east from here, not the west. Why would we go west? That sounds like a bad move to me. If we're supposed to be going to Voleur Den to get the thief, then we should head east, and quick."
"You idiot! You have no idea what you're talking about! Do you even know what directions are?! It's to the west!" Sable yelled. Mason looked ready to retort, and Vander looked away and covered his ears instinctively as Mason bellowed back, "It's to the east, you stupid child! And how dare you insult me?!"
They continued to yell back and forth at one another, but Vander began to focus on his own thoughts as Mason said something loud and not nice to Sable. If Vander's day was going to come down to making yet another decision that could make or break his life, then he wanted to at least be able to hear his own thoughts while he had to do it. He just had to figure out whether he should trust the bunny necromancer telling him to go west, or the hardy mercenary telling him to go east.
Gaians voted to trust Mason and travel east!
"EAST!" the fighting stopped as the small farmhouse fell silent. "I pick east, okay?!" Vander repeated once more.
Mason struck a confident pose as Sable slunk to the side of her summon to give Lapbie a consoling hug. If it were possible for an undead monstrosity of nature to be heartbroken, he surely was. "Sorry little guy..." Vander admitted, "I just think Mason seems to have a knack for this kind of thing."
"You've got that right, kid! I know this whole area like the hilt of my blade. Now, it's hardly a stone's throw that way and we'll soon discover Voleur Den. Great place for a cutpurse to grab a bite, or so I hear." the mercenary shuffled his feet a bit, eager to get on their way.
Ironically, the mistress of all things dark and eerie was the most chipper of the bunch. "Lapbie and I are coming along then. This will prove to be an interesting venture, don't you think?" she squeezed the bunny tighter and Vander heard a sickening squish. Almost cute, but mostly horrifying.
The motley gang took to the path with a newfound vigor. Vander expected to be a bit more beleaguered after this long day of trials, but there was still some daylight to salvage and some roads to tread. Until he found Aidah-- and after he got back his wallet-- Vander refused to give up! But as they walked, he felt more and more lost. Perhaps Lapbie had been on the right track after all... The team decided to make camp for the night. Around the fire, they discussed their plan of attack, for Mason assured the gang that the den of the thieves was heavily patrolled.
Should they try their stealth against that of the sneakiest scoundrels around? Or perhaps they should go in guns blazing and launch a full attack against the lot of sniveling swindlers?
