Chapter 1

In the seaside port town of Lilliver, Basanti, in the country of Bastian, seven creatures had plans for their day that were severely disrupted.

Imari Orvir, a half-elf in the mental inpatient ward of St. Caslow's Hospital, had planned on reading her fun facts book until she fell asleep.

Thad, a tiefling and administrative assistant to Blavius Anando, the head of the complaints dept. at the docks, was planning to try to make it to the Freida Gelsey concert after his shift ended.

Rika Arabella, a half-elf and award-winning musician, was planning to play in aforementioned Freida Gelsey concert.

Quo Rhizel, a dragonborn and artificer, was looking forward to a quiet night inside, and maybe rethinking his career choices, as the glowsitck sales today were few and far between.

Spickle Durf Bigteef and Komi Confidant, a goblin, and human, respectively, were planning to stay in a local AirDnD before resuming their scientific research traveling.

A citywide power outage took everyone in the city of Lilliver by surprise.

The port’s communications with the Esmiric Rail Authority's incoming train was disrupted, and they knew they wouldn't be able to keep communications going with any outgoing trains, let alone the ferries coming and going, so they closed their gates completely, while the power was down.

The set just begun by Rika Arabella stopped short, with the crowd unable to see or hear who was onstage. The tour manager raced onstage to give apologies.

Even St. Caslow's Hospital on Reddon Lane was affected in part. Their shield, which was supposed to repel outside magic, had been tampered with, and something had taken out their backup Arcane Generator, leaving them running on minimum power.

Imari didn’t need to be told twice. She grabbed her fun facts book and climbed out the window. Elliott stowed the book in a pocket of his pants, rather than the empty looking backpack he was wearing, but Imari didn’t ask questions—she was finally getting out of here. “Come on,” Elliott said, grabbing her hand as the two of them broke into a run.

Spickle and Komi were some of the lucky ones, at the docks. They had gotten off their train a half hour prior to the power outage, and Komi had been trying to race across town to make it to the concert, but by the time they arrived, it had been canceled. Now, she and Spickle trekked up Reddon Lane, searching their pockets for the code they need to access their AirDND. The streetlights gave light illumination to the footpaths, but with all the surrounding businesses and homes in the dark, they weren’t liking the eerie silence that had settled around them.

“Come on, we need to move,” Elliott hissed at Imari behind him.

“I’m trying, but I don’t have shoes,” she told him.

“Oh, shit, my bad,” he said. “I totally forgot to get you some.”

Thad was still trying to make it to the concert in time, still hoping the power outage hadn't reached the venue all the way across town.

“Thad?”

“Oh, Rhizel, how’s it going?” Thad stopped to greet his neighbor, who was in the middle of closing up his modest artificery stand. “Dark out, yeah?”

“Sure is. You know what would help with that?”

Thad rolled his eyes and chuckled. “I can only imagine.”

“I got one left,” Rhizel beamed, and handed over one of his signature glowsticks—a stick he found outside, and then cast a light spell on. They weren’t completely unsuccessful; Rhizel had a knack for finding interesting looking twigs and branches that caught the eye of those whose eyes weren’t accustomed to the dark.

“I thought business would be booming, with the power outage,” Thad told him. “You’re already closing?”

“No one’s out,” Rhizel said. “I guess they all just went home.” He closed and locked his last open hatch on his stand, leaving Thad’s glowstick as the only light source. “Heading home?”

“I’m trying to make the Freida Gelsey concert, if they’ve still got power. But home’s on the way, if you want to walk together.”

They started down the road together, and turned onto Reddon Lane---unknowingly blocking Elliott and Imari in.

Elliott looked up the street, and back down, and realized that their frantic running—and Imari’s appearance—had caught the attention of five other people on this street.

“Elliott,” Imari whispered, “what exactly is the plan here?”

He grabbed her hand. “To run.”

Imari dropped after two hits, but at least got a hit on someone else before collapsing.

“What the hell?” Rhizel inched closer to the fallen duo.

“Do you know these people?” Rika asked.

“Never seen them before,” Thad said. “You?” he asked of Spickle.

Spickle shook his head. “Kids these days. I guess attacking is the new hello.”

“It’s not,” Rika said.

“Okay, well, I’m really really uncomfortable just sitting out here,” Komi said, “and I can’t find the code to get into our AirDND anywhere, and we can’t get into our place without it.”

“Can I interest you in a glowstick?” Rhizel took Thad’s from his hand. “See in the dark for just one silver.”

“But the power is out, right?”

“Do you wanna take that chance? What if they’re on battery power or something and we’re on tape knocking these guys out.”

“Shit, wait, no,” Komi said, looking up from her clipboard, which Rhizel’s glowstick had been illuminating. “I can’t go to jail. My parents already are definitely disappointed in me and I’m not about to make that worse by getting arrested and going to jail.”

“Okay, so let’s wake them up and see what the fuck their deal is, and then we call the police and tell them what happened before they can twist the narrative,” Thad said. “Does anyone have any medical training?”

“Wait, I just realized who you are!” Komi said. “You’re Rika Arabella!”

“I am,” Rika said, modestly.

“Who?” Spickle asked.

“You know, the one who wrote Honey, Honey and won that singing competition?”

“Ah… yep. That’s me.” Rika sighed. “Not like I’ve ever written anything else,” she muttered, kneeling by Imari, and playing a short tune.

Imari woke with a start, her teeth chattering from a cold that shook away with her sleep. She sat up.

Thad stepped forward. “Okay, so before we wake up your friend, I need you to tell us what the hell——hey, hold on——”

Imari had already stood and knelt by Elliott, and begun searching through his pockets. “He always carries them, come on, where…”

“What’s your deal?” Thad asked her.

“Here!” Imari pulled a vial of smelling salts from Elliott’s pocket, uncorked it, and held it beneath his nostrils.

“Wait, hold on, I’m trying to talk to you!”

Elliott’s eyelids fluttered open. He smiled. “Thanks, Imari.” His eyes darted quickly around, and he saw that they were still surrounded by people. He reached into his inside pocket—a pocket Imari had missed.

“No, no, no,” Thad started, “Out of the pocket, slow—”

Elliott held his breath and smashed a vial on the ground. This time, everyone else was in very close proximity.

Elliott opened the door to the Medieval Bliss Tavern and Inn, and was greeted with a familiar voice that called, “Bar’s closed.”

“Devlin, it’s me.” Elliott shut the door behind himself, resituating the tall, bulky backpack he had over his shoulders. “I’m just heading up to my room.”

An elf emerged from the kitchen, drying their hands with a quizzical look on their face. “Your room?”

“Vicky got me all set up earlier.”

“Damn it, Vicky,” Devlin said, tossing their towel on the bar. “She never tells me anything.”

Elliott shrugged. “I’m just passing through; I have my key and everything.”

“What do you need a room for?”

“Staycation. Just a night.”

Devlin sighed, and grabbed two pint glasses. “You’re a horrible liar, kid.” They filled both the pints with a dark, rich ale, and set one before Elliott, and held the other aloft. Elliott sighed, picked up his glass, and clinked it against Devlin’s. “So, talk to me.”

Elliott set his backpack down on the floor, and it landed with a heavy thud—heavier sounding than the backpack looked like it should be.

Devlin raised their eyebrows. “Packing heavy for a one night staycay.”

“Just, uh… an order for work.”

“An order of… what, exactly?”

Elliott made brief eye contact, then took a sip of his ale.

“Right,” Devlin said, taking another sip. “A mysterious order, for the even more mysterious job.”

“It’s confidential, okay?”

“Yeah, you keep saying that.”

Elliott took a heavy swig. “Look. It’s a stressful job, sure. But it’s worthwhile. We’re doing important things. We’re doing good for the world.”

“Yeah, I bet.”

“I’m being serious.”

Devlin rested their elbows on the bar. “I believe you, kid. But that doesn’t make you right.”

Elliott set his glass down, and looked down at his bag. He had brought it in case he needed to hide Imari. He didn’t mean for…

Well, the good news was, he hadn’t left any witnesses. He had even managed to shut off the cameras at the hospital. Plenty of things that could have gone wrong, didn’t.

He took another sip.

“Need another?”

Elliott shook his head. “I’m good.” He left the inch and a half of remaining ale, and stood. “I’m just gonna head up to bed.”

The interior door from the bar to the rooms was heavy, old, and creaky. Everything here was like that. Devlin had told him once that it wasn’t the original door, but it was the oldest one in the whole place. Elliott pulled his backpack up on his shoulders, and started up the steps to the second floor. This area was lit by oil lamps at night, which cast dramatic shadows over the rough cut uneven stone walls on either side.

Elliott liked this place. It was the oldest building in town, and one of the only ones that didn’t have to be completely rebuilt after the fires that ravaged Boarwood almost a thousand years ago. It made him feel whisked away to a simpler era.

“The middle ages weren’t that great,” Devlin had told him once. “Remember how there were, like, two huge empires that had taken over almost the entire world?”

“Yeah,” Elliott answered, “but now the whole world is one.”

“Sure is.” Devlin had chuckled. “You seem as thrilled about it as I am.”

Elliott unlocked the door to his room, and trudged in. He set his backpack down on the bed, and lit a fire in the wood stove. Tonight was supposed to be about giving Imari the rundown, telling her how he got her out, telling her about this person he had met. But now…

Elliott unzipped the side pocket of his backpack and pulled out the six vials he had swiped from home on his way to the inn. At least Denali had extra in stock.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry!”

“Dude,” Thad said, “You have five seconds to tell us what the hell is going on.”

“I—”

“Lay off him,” Imari said to Thad. “I’m sure he has an explanation.”

“I didn’t mean to, okay? It was a total accident!”

“Where… exactly are we?” Komi asked, looking out the window.

Outside about a dozen gnomes milled about up and down the street, as the sun rose above the trees—trees unlike any the six newcomers were used to. The trees weren’t green, like they were all used to seeing. There were green trees, but there were also pink, lavender, red, white, and gold trees.

“I’ve seen trees like that before…” Spickle said, getting closer to the window.

“Boarwood,” Elliott said. “We’re in Boarwood Village, in Terun.”

“How long have we been out?” Rhizel asked.

“Ten hours.”

Komi leaned over and whispered to Spickle, “That should be at least a day’s ride, how did we get here so fast?”

Thad rounded on Elliott. “Why, why anything, WHAT IS GOING ON??”

“That’s fair, that’s completely fair, I totally get it! Look, here’s the deal, I only meant to get my friend Imari, okay? That’s Imari, Imari say hi.”

Imari put a hand up and gave a small wave.

“Everything was going fine until all you guys were just out in the street, okay? Everyone else was inside, why couldn’t you guys just be inside?”

“I still don’t know what happened to that code…” Komi looked down at her clipboard again.

“Your problem was that we were people and we were outside?”

“I said I was sorry, okay?”

“So what are we doing here?” Rika asked.

“Well, that’s the thing, you sort of… saw… too much.”

“What does that mean?” Thad asked.

“It means I… I had to, uh, charm you.”

“People don’t just charm me, I have a high tolerance,” Rika said.

“We’re both elven descent, you and I aren’t charmed,” Imari said.

“Actually, uh… I sort of had to charm you, too,” Elliott said to her. “Sorry.”

“How?”

“And again!” Thad said. “Why?”

“Yeah, I thought you said we were going back to your place,” Imari said. “This isn’t your farm.”

“I moved here last month. That’s why I haven’t seen you for a few weeks, I’ve been here. I met someone named Denali—he’s technically the one who charmed you; at least, it was his spell that did it. I brought you into The Fold.”

“Oh, shit, guys,” Thad waved his arms. “It’s a cult, we’re in a cult now, guys.”

“It’s not a cult!”

“It sounds like a cult,” Rika said.

“Look, I’m sorry that I didn’t ask your permission before your induction. But Denali’s not a cult leader.

Komi reviewed her notes from the conversation so far. “This still sounds like a cult to me.”

“Because it is,” Thad said.

“It’s not,” Elliott said, looking at Imari.

“I believe you, pal,” Imari said, “But it kinda sounds like a cult.”

“Okay, you know what? I think this conversation is going to go on for a long time and I need to check out of this room by a certain time and I’m hungry, are you guys hungry? Let’s get breakfast.”

Elliott started toward the door. Imari shrugged, and followed. The rest of the group looked at each other, and warily followed after Elliott and Imari.

Elliott locked the door behind them, and led the way down the stairs. “So, Elliott,” Thad said, catching up with him. “It’s Elliott, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Hi, Elliott. I’m Thad. And I think I can speak for everyone that we would like to meet this Denali guy and try to figure out what his deal is, like, now.”

“I also would like that,” Rika said.

“And you will!” Elliott said, opening the old wooden door into the bustling tavern, where he immediately made eye contact with Devlin, who eyed the group behind Elliott, and sighed. “Breakfast first, though,” Elliott said, “and I have a couple of errands after. Elliott led the group through the tavern, giving Devlin a lift of the chin in acknowledgement, to which Devlin saluted him. “Onward,” Elliott muttered.

The village was coming alive slowly, early as it was, and the newcoming six looked around themselves, taking the village in. Elliott led them across a bridge, and mumbled something about historical exports and the river’s use in it, but was completely overshadowed by Imari’s gasp, followed by a, “There’s a Mallorie’s here??”

“I didn’t want to spoil the surprise,” Elliott smiled, leading them in the direction Imari was pointing toward.

They went up the steps to the entrance, and saw the familiar signpost outside every single Mallorie’s Mystical Meals, which read:

Once seated, Elliott swore to them they would go meet Denali after breakfast, and after he ran his errands. “I have a list of things he needs, spell components mostly. I don’t want to come all the way back into town after.” The gnome returned with menus, and passed them out. Elliott went on. “It’s not that far away, but I’d rather help you guys get settled in, and I might as well show you around the village while you’re here.”

“Thad. Anando tells me you are very late for your shift this morning. Where are you, and why?”

Thad was worried this might happen. Lucian Marius, the Coucilor for the country of Nim, and his patron, was contacting him in his mind.

“I was abducted. Might be in a cult? In Boarwood Village,” he responded.