you were hired by the local baron to hunt a beast in the forest of veils. you armed yourself with the proper tools and weapons, gather information from the locals about the beast, that when you came across new information from a witch that guard the forest. when you learn the witch location you bolted there. the witch wasn't hostile, friendly even. the witch didn't tell you much, most of it you already know. although there are things that not even the local could tell you. The beast was sealed there by the baron himself, slowly gone mad with thoughts of revenge. Soon it became the cursed veils that cover the forest, and only now the baron sent you to remove the beast. Armed with this knowledge, thinking that the baron might had done something worse what will you do? slay the beast, and let the baron roam free? Or abandon the quest, knowing the baron will send his men after your neck? The witch give you another option: free the beast, but neither you or the witch know what it will do. -- Anon Guest
Marvin hadn't expected his first solo mission to be a moral dilemma. He wished, not for the first time, that Lady Anthe or Wraithvine or even Rumtum Taigr were with him to tell him what to do. Or at minimum debate all the pros and cons with him so a proper standing on the issues at play.
This is your test, sweet boy, Lady Anthe had said. Your coming of age. Just go forward in all your beliefs and thereby prove I am not mistaken in mine. Wraithvine was even less helpful, saying, Your quest, your decisions. Rumtum had been as helpful as he always was, in that he was fast asleep somewhere warm.
The forest of veils had a witch guarding it, keeping people safe if they wished to travel through it. The forest itself was haven and prison alike to the Beast of Veils. Something that hadn't been seen since the Baron had trapped it there. According to the witch, the Beast kept the Baron contained in his lands, and therefore prevented him from warring on the neighbouring city-states.
Marvin wasn't the scared boy he had once been when Lady Anthe helped rescue him. He had grown into adulthood and care of the education care of both her and Wraithvine, he knew a lot more than the enforced nothing he'd begun with. Now that he'd come of age, he'd decided to do the next quest solo. Which was why he was journeying into the Forest of Veils on his own. Shield ready, but sword not yet drawn.
Lady Anthe and Wraithvine alike had taught him, Get all sides of the story. So he had therefore asked the witch-warden everything she knew about the Beast within. It was lonely, for sure. It could speak, but spent most of its time invisible. It left the veils that were traps for animals and intelligent beings alike. The witch said that she used simple wards to keep the Beast away from her and anyone she guided. Marvin had forsaken such wards.
It was drawn to music and meat. Marvin had both at the ready, from freshly slaughtered in the forest to cooked with attention and care, packed and wrapped for travel. He found a place free of the sticky veils and made camp. Cooked a healthy cauldron's worth of meaty stew, and played something moderately decent on his harmonica.
In brief, he did everything he was not supposed to do in the Forest of Veils.
The Beast faded into view as he played. Something vaguely like a lizard, something like a bird, with the horns and wings of a demon. "What you do?" it said.
"I came to talk," said Marvin. "I would like to hear your side of the story."
"I... not of this... space," said the creature. "I made... be here. Keep evil... caged."
Marvin could guess what that evil was, but he had to make certain. "The Baron. You were brought here to stop the Baron."
"It be thus." The creature, easily five times the size of Marvin, settled onto the forest floor. "You make food?"
"I know you trap it," said Marvin. "I wasn't sure how you liked it, so..." He gestured towards the offerings. "Which would you prefer?"
It was certainly the most nerve-wracking negotiation. Th'ryss'l learned that meat-that-wears-clothes was not approved meat and tended to attract adventurers out to kill hir. If the Baron wanted the freedom to go where he whist, he had to surrender his warmongering ways, which would in turn free Th'ryss'l to return from whence ze came.
Meanwhile, travellers and traders could take the road in and out with no harm, though those taking livestock would be expected to pay one head of each farm creature as a toll. The witch-warden agreed to cook it for Th'ryss'l in exchange for any arcane knowledge the Beast might be able to communicate.
More people were happy, it was true, but the Baron and his armies were stuck on his own lands until he learned to behave. He didn't get the gold he was promised, but he knew he had done the right thing.
Lady Anthe, upon hearing the entire tale, approved. "I knew you had a good heart when I saw you. I'm glad it's shining through now."
[Image (c) Can Stock Photo / Piolka]
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