After the dwarf passed on, the group continued on down the road. Chip, as per normal, let her gaze drift across the tree tops and searched for any movement. However, no birds were to be seen by her (even though there were plenty to be heard). Purot, meanwhile, walks along not paying attention to much but is instead wondering about how if he had more control over his powers than the dwarf could’ve been brought back- albeit in a not completely mundane state. Jimmy is distracted by Chip as she tries to train the enchanted boar.
“Can I borrow some food, Vall?” She pats the boar on its head gently.
“No,” Saaya interrupts as Vall reached into his pack to provide a morsel, “It’s your pig. You feed it.”
Before Chip can respond, she hears a voice from a nearby shrubbery. Not only did a voice come from within the plant, but it also seems to be shifting… or maybe shimmering?
“Hello there! How are you all doing? You look tired. Would you like to come sit down? Name’s Dipsy Pop Waddle Be-Bop!” A little woman seems to be popping out from behind the shrubbery.
Purot and Saaya glance at each other for a moment before deciding to trust the lady and enter into her hidden clearing. Chip and Vall, a little more hesitant, follow behind them. Now seeing the woman up close, it is clear she’s a gnome. The green, veil-like illusion closes behind them and everyone stands in what seems to be a hut. All around the hut are necklaces made from the foliage around the clearing, to which Saaya asks how much they cost and Dipsy simply plops a necklace into her hand.
“Have you seen anyone pass by here?” Vall asks as he sits down and watches Dipst put on a pot of tea.
“Oh yes! I saw some sorta lonely dwarf pass by here not a day ago.” The entire group looks at each other. They’re on the right path. Dipsy looks Purot up and down for a moment, “What’re you?”
“What do you mean?” Purot blinks.
“I mean I ‘aven’t seen your kind before. What’re you?”
“A Vedalken,” He shrugs, “Not many of my kind left around here since the plague.”
“Oooo, I’ve never heard o’ that before! And what’re you lass?” Dipsy looks toward Saaya.
“A tabaxi…” Saaya and Dipsy proceed to talk in-depth about what being a tabaxi means but then Dipsy bounces from topic to topic until finally..
“I’ll add both o’ them to my name,” She grins.
“Add them? To your name?” Purot asks.
“Aye. Gnome’s names always grow and get more added onto ‘em as time goes on.”
“So your name is now Dipsy Pop Waddle Be-Bop Vedalken Tabaxi?” Saaya questions.
“You’ve got it, lass,” Dipsy winks.
Chip, during the entire conversation, spends her time making a crown of twigs and feathers for Dipsy.
“Perfect practice makes perfect!” Dipsy exclaims when Chip givers her the crown.
“Isn’t it just practice that makes perfect?” Saaya once again questions.
“No. Perfect practice cause if the practice ain’t perfect then nothin’ is gained,” Dipsy smiles wide.
Everyone eventually tapers off to sleep, the most exaggerated being Saaya who makes muffins before curling up and drifting off.
That morning, just as the sun begins peeking through the trees, the group huddles together to form a plan. Dipsy asks whats going on and eventually the group lets her in on their mission and why they wanted to know about the dwarf. After very short deliberation, everyone collectively agrees to let Dipsy tag along and join the party on their adventure. Chip mounts her boar and begins a sorrowful tune that echoes across the forest and bounces back to the group’s ears. Purot puts a finger to his lips and Chip stops, remembering that they are meant to be sneaking up on the dwarf.
Dipsy takes the lead and guides the group in the same direction that the dwarf went- which involves directly leaving the path and following the river. The trees themselves grow smaller as the mountain seems to expand and reach even greater heights. The river seems to actually be partially fed by a small stream coming out from a cave at the base of the gigantic natural stone structure. Faced by a fork in the road, everyone decides to climb into the mouth of the cave and follow the dwarf directly.
As everyone files into the cave, Jimmy begins panicking. Chip panics and doesn’t know what to do, trying her best to comfort the beast. Purot, given that he was raised in a small town with lots of farm animals, points out that it can’t see in the dark and that’s probably the reason it is freaking out. Saaya waves her hand in front of the pig’s face and it seems to calm down.
“There, now it has darkvision,” Her feline eyes adjust for a moment before she can see as normal. Everyone notices the lake just after Saaya and they all creep to the edge and look down into it. As far as anyone could tell it was just a pitch black, endless pit of water.
“Guys! There’s a boat here!” Chip calls out, much to Purot’s chagrin, “There’s a boat over here.”
Both Purot and Saaya immediately notice where another boat would have been had they gotten there before the dwarf. Everyone begins filing into the boat but Chip hesitates.
“What about Jimmy?”
“You’ve gotta leave him behind,” Saaya says, “There’s no room in the boat for him.”
“No! I can’t leave him behind. I won’t!” Chip crosses her arms and pouts.
“You’d be releasing him out to the wild, it might be better for him,” Purot insists.
“Sometimes you’ve gotta make the hard decisions,” Vall states as he sits in the boat.
“You’re right, Vall. And that’s why I’m going to swim across with my pig,” Chip flashes a smile at Vall and begins stretching.
“Fine,” Saaya seems annoyed as Vall begins rowing the boat out but causes it to wobble, “Oh, please, just give it to me, Vall.”
Saaya moves the boat graciously the rest of the way across the water, leaving Chip to make her way across the eerily still water. Almost immediately Chip turns blue. Even though Jimmy continues along the way faster than Chip, they both are definitely struggling. When the pair in the water make their way to halfway point, the water begins to ripple. Chip has only a second to think before a gigantic water monster breaks through the surface and slams into Chip, knocking her back a few feet.
Vall and Saaya begin to create distractions while Dipsy and Purot attack the creature directly. This causes the scaly monster to leave Chip and Jimmy alone but come straight toward the group on the other side. Luckily, Purot and Dipsy had hurt it enough that it thought the illusions created by Saaya in the water were real. After a lucky blast by Purot, a few shots by Dipsy, and lots of hacking and slashing by Saaya and Vall, the creature breathes its last breaths and begins to sink. Dipsy grabs onto the head and calls for help so she can grab a trophy. Purot, Saaya, and Vall all grab onto the head as Dipsy saws away at the thing’s tooth until it gives way and the monstrosity sinks beneath the still inky water.
Chip continues making her way through the water but she feels her grasp on consciousness fading. Even as she is shivering to the bone and focused on making it to the other side, Chip watches Jimmy pull ahead even further and get out on the other side. Saaya jumps back on the boat and goes back to grab Chip but isn’t strong enough and watches helplessly as her friend chooses to continue trying to swim to shore instead of sucking up her pride and getting on the boat. But about ten feet away from shore, Chip finally can’t keep going.
Vall sees her faltering and rushes to dive in. Purot calls something out but Vall disregards it and dives into the water and goes to save his childhood friend. He grabs onto her with one arm and begins dragging her to shore. He isn’t fast enough. Vall feels Chip stop breathing in his arms and she is gone moments later. Purot, Saaya, and Dipsy pull Vall and Chip onto the rocky surface that would have been the salvation for the aasimar. A moment of silence follows as everyone stares at Chip and secretly hopes it would somehow magically get better… but it never does.
“Does… does anyone have anything to say?” Purot asks, looking to his peers as he kneels by Chip.
“G-goodbye,” Vall chokes up and turns away, not able to say anything more nor look at his dear friend.
“Yeah… goodbye, you stupid… you stupid angel,” Saaya whispers with anger and sorrow mixing in her voice.
“Erm, well, I didn’t know ye long, but I’ll take care o’ yer pig,” Dipsy shifts awkwardly as she feels out of place amongst the group.
“I’m going to give you the rights of my people, who passed decades ago… May the water guide your soul to peace and love, may it also return you to the earth… and the earth to you,” Purot bends down and with the aid of everyone else scoops Chip up and sends her off into the lake to let her sink down into the water and rest in peace.
Yo that was wonderfully sad. Well done.