Kid Quest

Town of Mistveil

The sun sat high in the sky, although invisible through the treetops, as they approached the outer edge of a thick fog cloud that remained, permanently, in this part of the forest. Trixie felt vulnerable without her backpack, but for some reason she trusted this knight. She paused in front of the fog, only to witness the knight continue onward. Quickly, she followed suit.

The forest inside the mist looked entirely different. Trixie could see just fine out to about 20 feet before the fog obscured her vision. The trees looked like silhouettes against the white mist, and seemed to reach much higher than those outside the fog, almost as though the fog itself went on infinitely. Every few seconds, the ground shook, as if something massive was walking through the woods, obscured by the mist. As they walked, Trixie began to notice light coming from ahead, and soon a village gate was visible. At the top, in large wooden letters, was the name of the town, "Mistveil."

The large archway making up the gate to Mistveil loomed over Trixie with an ominously inviting aura. The gate, as well as the fencing it was attached to, was completely covered in thick leafy vines. They were damp from the fog, and the water rained lightly on the two of them as they crossed the threshold, giving the cool breeze a more frigid feel. But as they stepped through the archway into the town, the air changed, from biting cold to soothing heat. The inside of the fencing appeared to be completely devoid of the strange mist they'd crept through to get here, leaving the town surrounded by thick fog clouds that slowly swirled around the outside of the fencing.

As they ventured further into the town, in the direction of what Trixie deduced was a general store of some kind, although not particularly visible from this distance, they began to hear a man's voice from afar.

"Everyone, we have new arrivals! Come out and greet them!" A man appeared from around the corner of one of the houses, behind which stood a watchtower, and began walking towards Trixie and the mysterious knight that accompanied.

All at once, the townsfolk emerged from their homes, moving rather quickly in the direction of these two new faces. Excitement and joy practically oozed from the townspeople as they approached, a sentiment that almost immediately vanished once they'd gotten close enough.

The man who shouted arrived first, greeting Trixie with a smile that reminded her of her father.

"My goodness, you're just a child." He said, glancing briefly at the small knight before turning back to her, "Are you hurt? How did you come to be here?" He questioned, kneeling to Trixie's eye level.

"He saved me from gnomes," She replied, pointing at the goblin knight, "scary ones, and then I followed him here." She was somewhat upset that she was forced to leave her backpack in those tunnels, but she was happy to be around some people.

The man looked at the knight, preparing a question in his mind, but before he could speak it, the rest of the town had arrived. Cheerful and happy at first, but upon seeing Sep Talie Myrkul, they burst into a panic. Several screamed, many ran, and even more threw up a violent rage at the sight of a goblin in the town. Before anyone had realized, Trixie and the knight had been surrounded by townsfolk, all wielding forks, spoons, knives, anything their fear rattled minds allowed them to think of in the moment, one man even held a candlestick out in front of him.

Then suddenly, the group stopped, stunned by what they saw. They began whispering and murmuring amongst each other as Trixie, quick as can be, stood with her arms stretched out to her sides, fists clenched, in front of the knight.

"He saved me," she screamed, "you can't hurt him! He's not bad, leave him alone!"

Silence. A moment passed, then another, and as the silence grew long and contemplative, the townsfolk collectively, although hesitantly, put away their ridiculous weapons. Trixie's small act of bravery allowed the townspeople a moment, however small, to truly understand the situation, to catch their breath. Suddenly the notion of attacking this goblin felt trivial, and a few of the adults let out a chuckle. Finally, a man approached.

"You're the Troll-Killer right, that rogue goblin knight that goes around killing things over ten times his size? Your name is in that disgusting goblin tongue, I won't dare speak it." There was a pause, then the knight nodded in response, "Do you hunt shape-shifters?"

The knight tensed at the mention of a shape-shifter, and the man went on to explain a great deal about what the town had been experiencing over the past month. According to the man, every night for nearly 30 days now, without fail, a creature is heard in the town center. It's wailings keep the townspeople awake, but any who attempt to confront the creature are never seen again. They believe that it must be a shape-shifter.

"It must be, or we would be able to leave the town. The only way in is through the fog, and no one has ever been able to leave. Those that do are lost in the mist forever." He said at the end, as the rest of the town settled back into their homes. He gave Trixie a piece of bread and headed back to his own house, leaving her to follow the knight once more. He led her to a building nearby that sported a hanging sign above the door.

The words, "Vel's General Item Emporium." sprawled in bright red letters, painted on with tiny hands, hung above the door to the shop on the chained wooden sign. They entered, and were met with the long horns and snouted features of a minotaur, standing behind the desk at the back end of the shop.