The wonderful Alliance has been putting together a serialized mystery tale, and kindly asked me to contribute a chapter. If you haven't been reading all along, make sure you catch up on the story so far using the links below.
You can view Part 1, by Snook, here
Part 2, by grindan, may be found here
Part 3, by enginewitty, is here
View Part 4, by wwweibe, here
Part 5, by summertooth, can be seen here
Part 6, by slothlydoesit, is right here
and Part 7, by bigtom13, may be read here.
Or, you can view the previous part here, and the next part here.
Meanwhile, back in Gnomeville, Fred was searching frantically for Nerffin, with little Gwen in tow. It took him quite a while to acclimate to the new, swirling, colorful vision that the blue goo had given him, and finding his way around was rather confusing, since all of his usual landmarks looked so very different.
After searching for an hour or more, Fred finally found Nerffin, castigating a group of saplings for not being more amusing. Surely trees so young and flexible could grasp the basics of humor and grow with it, couldn’t they?!
Fred pulled Nerffin away from his tirade and began gesticulating frantically, babbling about apparitions and mushrooms and potions and gnomons. It was a rare occurrence for Nerffin to be the more composed member of any duo, but thanks to his longer experience with exposure to the hallucinogenic goo, that was certainly the case now. Fortunately, the blue smeared around Fred's eyes gave away the nature of the problem. It took about 10 minutes, but eventually Nerffin got Fred calmed down enough to understand what he was trying to say.
Once Fred's babbling turned a bit more coherent, Nerffin heard a fantastical tale of apparitions and potions and Gwen playing with hallucinogenic mushrooms. Or something like that. The important bit, Nerffin finally managed to tease out, was that Fred was searching for someone who called himself Gnome-one. Thankfully, Nerffin was familiar with this character, having met him during his underground wanderings.
"Ohhh," said Nerffin. "You mean Fa'Koon!
"No, I mean Gnome-one!" Fred exclaimed, beginning to grow agitated again.
"Yes, yes," Nerffin soothed, as he would with a child throwing a temper tantrum. "Gnome-one is the name Fa'Koon goes by these days. Surely you can see why?"
Fred didn't see why at all, but he also didn't care. All he cared about was finding the mysterious gnome so that he could get his wife back.
Nerffin was not exactly keen to venture back underground, and he was especially wary about leading not only Fred, but Gwen down there. Trolls may not have the same aversion to darkness that gnomes do, but she was just a baby! However, Fred wasn’t taking gno for an answer, and Nerffin could understand why. After all, if they didn’t find Emma, Gwen would have to grow up without a mother! So, after some negotiation, Nerffin agreed to play tour guide for Fred, leading him into the underground world where unworthy gnomes go to live out their few remaining days.
Fred became increasingly uneasy as they descended down into the gloom. He had heard about this place, but never had any desire to see it with his own two eyes. He had always thought of it as a place inhabited exclusively by tree murderers. So to him, anyone who would delve down here willingly had to be quite wrong in the head. The fact that his vision was partially obscured by all the swirling colors did nothing to alleviate his unease, either.
I will not burden you, dear reader, with the horrors that Fred and Nerffin and little baby Gwen encountered in their search for Fa’Koon. Suffice to say that death and dying were everywhere, and gnot even the hardiest gnome could come away from seeing these things without being affected. Fortunately Gwen was young and innocent enough that she didn’t really understand what she was witnessing. Indeed, she seemed strangely cheerful and contented, wandering through the tortuous tunnels and seeing the groaning gnomes on their deathbeds.
Finally the trio rounded a corner and Fa’Koon came into view.
“Gnome-one!” Nerffin hailed him, using his preferred name.
Interestingly, Fa’Koon did not seem the least bit surprised to see the three of them. On the contrary, his face bore a look that was part knowing smile, and part impatient grimace.
“This is the guy?” Fred asked Nerffin, wanting to be certain.
“If you’re looking for Gnome-one, you’ve found him,” Gnome-one confirmed.
Dropping Gwen’s hand for the first time since entering the underground realm, Fred charged toward Gnome-one, shaking his fist and shouting “you give me back my wife right now, or I’ll…”
Gnome-one, however, just laughed, and levitated out of reach of Fred’s angry fists. “Or you’ll what?” he taunted.
Suddenly an unearthly squeal caused the three gnomes to completely forget their altercation, and they turned around to see baby Gwen had wandered over to the tunnel wall. Her squeal was not one of pain, however, but one of delight. Her hand, the blue stain of the hallucinogenic goo just visible on it, was disappearing into a tangle of roots and mycelic fibers. As it did so, the earth began to shake all around, and the cavern’s ceiling rained down gouts of dust and dirt upon them. Fred and Nerffin both sprinted toward Gwen, but by the time they arrived, she was quite literally rooted to the spot.
Fred and Nerffin worked frantically to try to free her, but it was no use. She was rapidly becoming one with the fibrous tangles. And though her father and caretaker watched in horror, her own face was serene, even joyous; as if she were being cradled at her mother’s breast.
Eventually the earthquake subsided, and Gnome-one spoke once again…
Troll baby and troll hand images were generated using the AI available in the Blue Willow Discord server. Alliance banner provided by The Alliance.
