We reconnect with our intrepid Explorers in their natural habitat: warm drinks, a safe booth, and the faint promise of a new lead. What begins as an idle morning at Rosette’s—Munqo’s cosiest (and loudest) tavern—quickly spins into pursuit, bartering, and a city-wide cat chase. This account contains the earliest known appearance of Voiid, the first hints of the Armourdillo map, and the notable usage of both wind-whispering and shadow puppetry.
Location: Rosette’s Tavern, Munqo
In a tavern overlooking the Putrid Sound in the city of Munqo, the Explorers cradled mugs of hot chocolate. The torches in the tavern burned low and the sky outside grew darker every time you looked away.
Despite the grim atmosphere outside, the tavern had the cosy feeling of home so many innkeepers strived to attain. The hostess was a woman as sweet as the treats she served and as cordial as all the drinks on tap.
Rosette’s had become HQ for the Explorers, the best place to hear rumours of great bounties. “Right off the wharf where the liquor runs quicker than a city slicker”as Rosie would say in her singsong voice.
Rosette’s stayed lively with constant music, from open stage nights to the battle of the bards—no matter when you went, there was always time for good tunes. This evening, a viola was being plucked to release a gentle melody, and the tavern folk seemed as merry as ever.
Today had been a good day for all.
It had been a near-perfect day for the Explorers, in fact.
Earlier, Rosie had caught wind of a new adventure posted on the corkboard and brought it to their attention at once. On a very old piece of paper was a painting of a trail claiming to be a map. There were several locations circled along the way with illegible notes scribbled in the margins pointing to seven spots. The closest point on the map seemed to be a cave just outside the edges of Munqo’s fields in the direction of the Mountains of AMuNuMA—named after the natural formation of the peaks and valleys.
The party decided that would be their first stop. Lellun delicately folded the frail map and tucked it away.
“I’m no stranger to caves,” Idhas said. “We’ll need the proper equipment.”
“Then there is no time to waste!” Cartuq slammed a few coins on the table to thank Rosie for their breakfast and they clambered out of the booth and into the city.
Munqo was a large city and served as a melting pot for the Realms. You could find anything you were looking for on the main circus . . . anything except for tunnelling gear, apparently. The party had been walking for hours and had split up (or gotten lost) multiple times. The sun was hanging in an overcast sky, warming an otherwise cool day when it broke between the clouds. The city was a windy place; the air spirits who found their way through the deep artificial canyon only made it colder.
Lellun cinched his Heavy Belt and leaned headlong into the gust, letting his tentacles gently flap along. The rest of the party was sitting in a half circle around a dry fountain. Cartuq had his head in his hands, dozing. Idhas sat with her arms crossed, Hood drawn as she squinted into the blustering gale. Qenoz leaned backwards to look up at the shapes of the clouds. Yaios chatted with the wind.
“Ok.” Yaios nodded with excitement. “Uh-huh, sure.”
To the rest of the party, the wind spirit’s chittering sounded nothing more than a rustling of leaves.
“Ok, we will make sure to do just that.” Yaios thanked the spirit and, just like that, the winds died down and all was still in the fountain square.
“Well.” Yaios stood up. “I know where to find the caving material. An aerial spirit gave me directions.”
“Is that what that was?” Qenoz asked. “I thought you were talking to yourself again.” She stood up and dusted herself off, thankful to no longer be sitting on cold stone.
“Yup, it’s right down this way, then left, and a quick right turn, although I guess the directions came from the other way so we might have to flip them around. Let me just call the spirit up—” Yaios began raising their Bone Wand.
“No. No more wind. We’ve got this, we’re good,” Idhas cut them off and slipped one of Cartuq’s hands away from under his chin to jerk him awake. She set out walking the way the wind spirit had directed Yaios. It did not take them long to orient themselves and find the Hiking and Exploring Accessories Shop.
The bell jingled as they entered. The store had wall-to-wall supplies, consisting of tents, rope, snow-shoes, picks, shovels, hoes, rakes, staffs, crossbows, fishing rods, nets, hammocks, and bags, but there was no one behind the counter.
“Hello?” Lellun tried, but the carpeted floor and long shelves seemed to swallow the question.
There was a soft bump and then a soft groan which rose from underneath the cashier’s counter. “I’ll be with you in a moment. Oh, ow. My head.” A squirrely-looking man poked his head over the edge. He adjusted his round-framed spectacles and tucked whatever white hairs he still had behind his ears. A red welt was already beginning to form on the pate of his bald head. He was dressed in a brown leather apron on top of a mint green cotton shirt with the sleeves rolled up and tan slacks with a black belt.
“Apologies for my tardiness. I seemed to have misplaced something very dear to me.” The old man was clearly worrying over his lost heirloom and not much noticing the party before him.
“Well, we’re looking—” Cartuq started.
Idhas cut him off. “What’s missing, sir? And how can we be of assistance?” She held Cartuq back with one arm, propelling herself closer to the counter.
“It would seem my cat has gotten out. She’s an Abyssian, swirling like a Noctii in moonlight, but she carries a portrait of my late wife on her collar. You see it was my wife’s cat and she’s all that I have left to remind me of my dearest.” The old man became emotional.
“No cat should face the dangers of the city alone,” Idhas said with resolve. “We will find her for you, and retrieve the portrait of your wife.”
“Oh, bless you. She responds to the name Voiid. I would do anything to get her back, but before you go—” The shopkeeper handed a few looseleaf papers to Lellun, who had been perusing a dusty magazine rack, “—take these sandwich vouchers in case you get hungry. Tracking down Abyssian cats can be a day’s work.”
Back again in the streets of the not-as-windy city, the explorers grinned at the prospect of adventure at hand.
It wasn’t long before Fate, and Voiid, dropped from the shop’s canopy into their lap. The cat yowled.
Cartuq went to grab her but in the shady overhang of the shop, the cat became intangible and scampered off. The party scrabbled over each other and took off after her.
Voiid clambered up a post and was racing across the awnings that hung over the wide central market. Customers and vendors were clogging the streets, all milling about this way and that. The party got stuck in the flow of traffic.
The Explorers ebbed and elbowed their way through the crowd, making it through just as Voiid continued on her way.
“Ain’t no rest for the committed,” Idhas mumbled with determination.
They chased the cat past the main street, through the fashion district, under the bridge downtown, and into Middle Park. Lellun flopped down onto the grass and the rest of the party quickly joined him. He removed an old journal and the sandwich vouchers fluttered to the ground. Lellun held his rumbling tummy.
“We’ve been all over the city and always right on her tail, but we can’t seem to catch this cat,” Cartuq said, upending his Leather Boot to empty it from the river water they had trudged through.
Yaios noticed Lellun thumbing the lunch tickets. “Maybe we should find a place to redeem those,” they pointed their chin.
Before they could reach consensus, Qenoz who was laying on her back and spotted movement in the trees above the party. “What’s that hidden in the branches?”
The party followed where she was pointing and saw none other than Voiid, right above them once more. The wind rustled the leaves and as sunlight spilt through, the dark inkiness of Voiid became more substantial but as the wind died the shade returned and she almost disappeared altogether. The only thing they could see was her collar and the gold locket she wore with her bell.
Qenoz chuckled. “She is taunting us.”
Idhas swore in Goblin. “How are we going to reach that thing?”
Cartuq pulled out his Ghost Wand and gave it a wave. He was not as skilled in magical manipulation as Yaios but had learned a few parlour tricks, including a spell called Shadow Puppetry. From the tip of his wand another cat sprung out. It was larger than Voiid but with the same features. Even though it was made from manipulated darkness, the likeness to Voiid was uncanny. The conjuration scurried up the trunk and onto the branch to face the runaway cat.
Voiid cocked her head to the side and in that moment the shadow cat leapt, coiling itself around her as a snake and shaking them both loose off the branches. They fell neatly into Idhas’s outstretched Minty Silk Robe.
The party hurrahed and Yaios casted a sunlight spell shining on the bundle so Voiid wouldn’t escape again.
“You did it!” Qenoz cheered, clapping Cartuq on his broad shoulders. “Let’s bring her back to the shop and get our gear for the cave.”
“And reward!” Cartuq hooted along.
“No one mentioned a reward, Car. And, besides we’re doing this for honour, not money.” Idhas was scanning the treeline while managing the fidgeting package.
The day had grown long and as they looked around, the party realised they had gotten sufficiently lost.
“Oh, bother,” Lellun moaned.
“No worries,” Yaios said, smiling and raising their Bone Wand. The winds picked up immediately and tugged at the loose fabrics of the Explorers’ clothes. “I believe it’s that way,” they said, pointing the wand and beginning to march.
Dusk had fallen by the time they found their way back to the shop. The Shopkeep was beside himself with joy when they presented Voiid from the swaddle they had kept her in, lest she escapes.
The cat leapt out of Idhas’s arms and onto the counter, immediately nuzzling her head into the Shopkeep’s neck with a deep purr from within the dark abyss of her chest. A single tear ran down the shop owner’s cheek as he welcomed the last trace of his wife.
Cartuq cleared his throat.
“Ah, yes. Of course. Thank you for bringing her back to me. It must not have been easy to track her down. You know, Abyssian cats can morph to the shadows and become intangible in the dark,” he said, stroking her deep black furs. “To thank you, I want you to take this purse I had set aside as a reward.” There was a soft chink of coins as he set it on the counter.
“I knew there was a reward,” Cartuq whispered as he scooped up the purse and went to open it.
Qenoz stopped him and returned the pouch to the Shopkeep.
“We actually came here this morning looking for cave exploring gear,” Qenoz hinted.
“Well, you came to the right place!” A sparkle had returned to the Shopkeep’s eyes. He exited from behind the counter and took them down an aisle with ropes, helmets, kneepads, harnesses, ascenders and descenders, and cow’s tails.
“Anything you need, it’s on the house.” The Shopkeep adjusted his glasses. “And you can return it when you’re done, but that’s up to you. Just another thanks for finding Voiid and getting me back the locket.”
Settling into the booth of the cosy tavern, the Explorers regaled the other patrons with this story and counted their haul from the shopkeeper’s reward.
“We’ve got two packets of magic seeds ready to plant, no germination needed” Lellun placed them on the table, concealing a tattered notebook the shopkeeper let him take as well.
Sitting on the table in the ring made by mugs were two gold foil packets sealed tight with tiny bumps along the flats.
All the Explorers started at once. “But—”
“What about the spelunking tools?” Idhas growled.
“Where are the sandwich vouchers?” Cartuq leapt over the table and grabbed Lellun by the collar of his Beige Robes.
“I traded them,” Lellun confidently enunciated each word as if it were the best sentence he’d ever spoken.
“Even the map we found this morning?” Qenoz dropped her jaw in shock. Yaios picked it up off the table and handed it back to her. “Thanks,” she managed once she had secured it again. “But Lellun, what were you thinking?”
“I like the seeds. . .” Yaios whispered.
Lellun’s hand came up to tap Cartuq’s, prompting him to unclench his fists and soften his grip. Lellun slunk back into his seat with a sigh and a smile.
“I didn’t give away the map. It’s right here.” He lifted his other hand to reveal five sandwich vouchers for Goro Goro Sandwiches, the finest deli in town.
Idhas slapped her own face with an audible, “Ugh.”
“The vouchers!” Cartuq hurrahed in victory and grabbed the loose pieces of paper, cradling them like a baby. “I was so worried we were going to go hungry.”
Qenoz just stared blankly at a now-panicking Lellun.
“I don’t understand!” he shouted. “I had the map right here.” His arms were spread wide, and he was looking under the table. He even lifted the mugs as if the map was hidden beneath one in a game of three-card monte. “He said these seeds will help us even more than the tools and they were lighter to carry, it made sense mathematically.” Panic crept into Lellun’s voice.
Qenoz shook herself out of the cloud of disbelief. “Who said? Lell, where did you get these seeds?”
“From that guy in the corner.” He pointed across the tavern to the dark corner furthest from them.
A figure sat with Divine Gloves holding up a very old map, and just over the top, the tips of a Horned Demon Crown were visible and littered around him was their tunneling supplies. The moment the party looked over, the map came down and the Explorers saw the determined look on the stranger’s face. He was an Orange Flames, loaded with Loot.
“Whoa, that guy has so much Loot,” Cartuq gawked.
“He also has our map,” Idhas snarled. Without hesitation, she launched herself and, with liquid agility, she had managed to cross half the room. But it was not quick enough. With a wink and swish from his Bone Wand, the stranger, and the gear, disappeared.
All that was left was a smoking corner of the map which fluttered to the table.
Idhas returned with the singed piece of paper and tossed it into the circle of mugs, joining the packets of seeds.
Qenoz slammed her fist on the table. “Well, let’s go after him!”
The party was in agreement.
Cartuq slowly raised the vouchers clutched in his hand. “Can we get sandwiches first?”