A tavern? she thought. What a strange place to go to tell a story. But it was already too late, they were well on their way to what was known colloquially as The Smell. It didn’t live up to its name most of the year, but now that the meat market was in town…

“Oh, c’mon, tell me something!” Voolio said, holding his hands as if he were praying.

“I’m waiting ‘til we get to the Stench, or whatever it was,” Gnom said.

“The Smell,” Bauwls said. “And I think Voolio’s right, you should start the story now so we have something to do. I mean, it’s a ten minute walk, Gnom.”

“But… I… sigh, sure.”

“Yippee!” Voolio did a spin that damn near sent Gnom flying back to Orctown. Homeland of a gnome, of all people.

“Ok, here we go,” Gnom said. “I was going on my walk outside Rattwater like I said I would, and everything started fine. But then I bumped into… those guys!” Gnom pointed across the street to a group of unkempt homeless people led by a guard, by the looks of it. “Dylk! Vix! Salman! Lizard guy!” He jumped off Voolio and ran to them.

“Should we?” Bauwls asked. Voolio shrugged and they followed. Bauwls heard him yell from the other side of the street:

“Those are my other friends, Voolio and Bauwls. They’re in a cult!”

“Soon to be religion!” Bauwls yelled back. They met in the middle of the street.

“Well, you look the part,” the sabro said in a tone teetering between encouraging and discouraging.

“Thank you,” she said, choosing to believe in the former. “Now, will someone tell me what’s happening? I don’t have all day.”

“We have a mission from the council,” the dwarf said. “You’re all welcome to join us, though we can offer no reward but knowledge.”

“Knowledge?” Bauwls asked. Gnom climbed back onto Voolio.

“We’re trying to figure out what this is,” said the…

“Are you a halfling?” Bauwls asked.

“Yup. Why?”

“How did you get past the guardians?”

“He got past the guardians?” Voolio asked, eyebrows raised. He knelt down to look at the thing. “How’d you do it? Are they real?”

“Of course, they’re real!” the halfling said. “I got past ‘cause I’m not an idiot! Wait, how did you know about all that?”

“Bauwls here told me all about it!” Voolio held his arms out to her. My time to shine.

“It’s part of the story of Moosa, our creator, and the folly of the other gods for thinking they could create as he did. You see, the guardians-”

“Ok, ok! I get it,” the halfling said. “Can we get going now?”

“Indeed,” the dwarf said. “Guard, lead the way.”

“I would if you stopped interrupting me, geez. This way, children.”

Bauwls and the dynamic duo joined the traveling homeless shelter going west to the rich part of town. As they drew nearer, a low rumble grew, rattling loose glassware on windowsills and shop displays.

“What is that?” Voolio asked.

“That’s our task,” the dwarf said. “We must find the source of the rumble and stop it.”

“It’s definitely a dragon,” Bauwls said, as nonchalantly as she could manage.

“Dragon?” the yet silent half-elf asked.

“Yeah, it’s a dragon,” she said again. The group, including the guard, had been stunned to silence.

“How could you be so certain?” the dwarf asked. They looked at her expectantly.

“Just a hunch,” she said. It was just a feeling.

“Ah man, I thought we were gonna see a dragon,” the half-elf said, sulking.

“Huh? No, we will!” The group had clearly gotten over her claim and continued on their path. But it has to be, she thought. I can feel it!

After another fifteen minutes of walking, the guard turned left into the front lawn of a cushy, dark-toned mansion. Despite living in Rattwater for two or three years, Bauwls had never been to this district of the city. No one but the people who lived there did: the blue chips, the high and mighty. The richest of the rich. Among the twisting boulevards, she knew, sat the abodes of the most successful goods traders in the known world, holiday houses for great leaders of men and otherwise, and the humble living quarters of the council, in all their grandiosity. She didn’t recognize which was which.

“We arrive at our destination, fools,” the guard said. “The luxurious domicile of the honored councilman, Lord Garrel.” That clears it up, she thought.

They walked up the garden path, past plentiful flowerbeds blooming for the spring.

“They’re purple,” the halfling said under his breath. “Petunias are purple…”

“What did you say?” Bauwls asked, being the only one who took any notice of it.

“What? Nothing, nothing,” he said. This halfling is a lot weirder than I thought they’d be.

Soon, they were up to the door, rich and deep-grained, in contrast with Bauwls’ work on her own condo door. The carpentry chapter of the Guide was only mildly helpful in that respect.

Her envious thoughts were interrupted by the guard’s knock on it. Only a few seconds had passed before it opened. Inside was a charming old lady, who curtsied to them.

“Hello there!” she said cheerfully. “Mister Geraldine, how wonderful it is to see you again!”

“Right back at ya, Susan,” the guard said. The old lady’s smile faltered for just a second.

The guard spoke again:

“Another group for the tomb, Susan.”

“Another already? My, my! Well, come in, come in!” She ushered them into a beautiful foyer unlike anything Bauwls had ever seen. The dark wood followed them in, giving the whole interior a snug, cozy feeling. Inside stood not only Susan, but also a pair of Rattwater guards, one blocking the entrance to an upward stairwell on the right and another to their left at the door.

“Unfortunately, Lord Garrel has had to stay in the council chambers during the investigations. You’re welcome to any information you can gather from his graveyard management notes, and I will help as I am able.”

“Thank you, ma’am,” the dwarf said. As he questioned her about her account of the situation, Bauwls leaned in next to Gnom’s ear, which was close to Voolio’s.

“Gnom, Voolio,” she whispered, “I have a request.”

“Mhm?”

“Could you distract the guards? I have a plan.”

“Plan? What kinda plan are we talking here?”

“I think I know where to find information about the dragon”

“You’re still on the dragon thing?” Gnom was whispering quite loudly at this point.

“Yes! I have a feeling I can get the answers we need in this mansion. Now, c’mon! Distract them!”

“Sure, fine. I’ll get Dylk to help.”

“Dylk?”

“The halfling!” he whispered, hands cupped around his mouth.

“Excuse me, Susan?” Bauwls asked, cutting the dwarf off mid-question. “Where are these graveyard documents you were talking about?”

“Oh yes, they’re in the library, dear. On the left down the hall there.” She pointed down the main hallway opposite the front door.

“Thank you! Hey, sabro, half-elf,” Bauwls said. “Come with me.” Both of them nodded, one more loose-neckedly than the other, and followed her. Now she was away from all three of the guards and Susan.

“What’s going on?” the half-elf asked.

“We’re solving this case, ladies. What’re your names?”

“Krerrhenthes Ballin.”

“Vix the Fallen.”

“Do all your names rhyme?”

“No, just the best two! Right, Vix?”

“That’s right!” They high-fived.

“Hey, listen up,” Bauwls said. “We have to find a secret passage or something in this library.”

“Why do you say that?” Ballin asked.

“Because I have a hunch,” she said.

“I can’t believe I got my hopes up again,” Vix said, frowning.

“Just wait, Vix,” Bauwls said. “You’ll see!”

They turned the corner and went into the library in question. It was sizable but not as massive as the rest of the place. Bauwls felt that there was more to it. She entered, walking around the bookshelf which covered the back half of the room, and saw another guard. This one, a tall, bulky man, was standing in the nook between two long shelves. Suspicious place to be guarding, she thought. With all her Guide-given confidence, she went to him.

“Hello, sir,” she said. “We’re here to investigate the tomb. Susan gave us permission to go into Lord Garrel’s secret room in the library.” She could almost hear Ballin and Vix’s collective brain exploding.

“Hm, ya see,” the guard said, “I’m not meant to let anyone through.”

“But Susan told us we can go in!” Bauwls said sternly.

“Hm… alright, come on then,” the guard said, stepping aside and pulling a book on the shelf beside him. The wall he had been blocking suddenly shifted, revealing a staircase leading down into darkness.

“Do you have a torch?”

“Nope, nothing,” he said.

“I got this!” Vix said, a small fire lighting in his hand.

“Hey!” yelled the guard. “Be careful around the books, would ya?”

“Sorry, sorry,” Vix said.

The three of them made their way down the creaking, wooden stairs. Bauwls could feel the air growing colder with each step. At the bottom was a small, chilly room with nothing but a parchment covered desk and a small, waist-high bookshelf. Bauwls went immediately to the desk, as did Ballin. Together they started rifling around the stacks of loose documents and notes.

“Hey,” Vix said from the shelf, “check this out. All these books on the bottom have drawings of dragons on them.”

“Dragons?” Ballin asked. He looked at Bauwls.

“And here,” she said, looking at a parchment, “is the last part of the puzzle. Listen to this:

“‘I’m afraid James has gotten too big for this room. I may have to get rid of him. In fact, I must dispose of him. But where to hide a dragon?’

“There’s a lot more about… ugh… it’s a love letter. I can’t read it for more than a second or I’ll puke.”

“That’s fine, it’s enough,” Ballin said. “I’ll keep it in one of my pockets. Let’s go. Vix?” Vix was laying stomach down on the floor with a book open to a page of dragon illustrations.

“Can we get one, Ballin?” he asked.

“Yeah, we’ll get one,” Ballin said. “Now, let’s go!” He hoisted Vix up and made his way up the stairs behind Bauwls, stuffing the page into his cloak.

“Find everything you needed?” the guard asked as they came to the top.

“Yes, we did, thank you,” Bauwls said, walking past.

“Wait a minute,” the guard said, blocking the way.

“Hey, big guy,” Bauwls said. “Let me squeeze past you real quick-”

“I must search you before I let you go,” the guard said.

“Why’s that?” she asked.

“You might have taken something of Lord Garrel’s. Turn out your pockets.”

“Sure,” Bauwls said, opening her cloak.

“Alright, clear. Next.” Next was Vix.

“Turn out your pockets,” the guard said.

“Turn out my pockets,” Vix said, doing just that. They were mostly empty but for a few sticks of incense and a little sack.

“Open it,” the guard said. He did. “Sand?”

“Sand!” Vix said with a smile, putting the pouch and incense back in his pockets. Sand?

Ballin was last. He swaggered up to the guard without faltering.

“Turn out your pockets,” the guard said.

“Don’t have any,” Ballin said, grinning.

“Turn out your pockets,” repeated the guard.

“Could you… just… let me… through?” he said, trying to get past.

“Turn out your pockets,” the guard said again. Ballin’s eyes were pleading.

“I got this!” Vix said, holding out his hands. “Ballin, duck!”

“Didn’t you say you were an ithur-” Vix’s hands started to glow yellow and sparkle purple. Ballin hit the ground all at once, just in the nick of time.

A blinding light blasted from Vix’s hands, vaporizing everything in front of him. Only the skeleton of the guard remained. The shelves that were left caught fire.

“What did you do?” Bauwls yelled, helping Ballin up from under a pile of books. He was unconscious.

“I thought it would be useful,” Vix said, looking around, panicked. A shelf, engulfed in flame, fell and shattered in their exit path.

“Well, now we might die! Come on!” Bauwls used her full strength to hoist Ballin over her shoulder, tossing him over the burning wreckage in their way. Vix jumped over and lifted Ballin on the other side. Just as he did, another shelf fell. Bauwls realized with horror that she was blocked in completely.

“Get Ballin out of here!” she yelled through the rubble.

“If I leave you in there, you’ll cook like a grembird on a spit!” Vix screamed.

“I’ll be alright! Just go!” She felt tears evaporate off her face, and she fell to the ground in exhaustion. “Go.” Bauwls felt a rush of happiness, the warmth of a good friend, swell in her as she closed her eyes. When she opened them, she saw clouds and a bright, brilliant light. Then…