The Tales Of The Troublesome Three

The Alleged Fountain

"Hey, Carl, I hope you don't mind Va-"

Alaya and Hugo stopped at the sight of the duo. Alaya was holding two ice creams both vanilla, and Hugo was holding two chocolate ice creams.

"Were we interrupting something?" Alaya says with a smirk.

Tom starts, a little frustrated, "Actu-"

"n-NO!" Carl cuts him off.

"W-what took you so long anyway?" He asks, avoiding any eye contact at all.

"Did you not see the long ass line?" Hugo raised a brow. Carl and Tom glace at the line that was made by the ice cream parlour. It was indeed very very long.

Alaya hands the vanilla ice cream to carl and Hugo does the same to Tom. They enjoyed their ice cream and looked around at the beautiful view. They had a perfect view of the fountain and its gorgeous wooded surroundings.

They ate silently until Carl struck up a conversation. "Hey, do you know the history behind that fountain?" Carl says to the party.

The party looked at the intriguing fountain and was now successfully curious. "No, what about it?" Alaya asks.

Carl smiled and said, "A long time ago, when this village was smaller than the lake of death, it was run by a man in the name of Effron. The village had an orphanage, a hospital and that was it. There were many people who desperately needed that place to stay but, they were too afraid to move, thinking that they would be outcasted."

The party stares at him curiously, urging him to continue.

"So, Effron published a speech. A speech that moved so many people, that within a week, Effron managed to gather enough money to expand the village and welcome more people in need. One day, an outcasted witch came to the village searching for a roof to stay under for the night and some food. All she carried with her was a few silver coins and very few potions that she kept in her bag of holding."

"Why would she keep very few things in a bag of hold-"

"Shhhh. I'll get to that." Carl shushed Tom. "So, Effron offered her to stay at a local shelter and provided her with food and water. Back then, water was scarce in here, so the witch was delighted when they gave her enough water to last 2 days.

The next day, the witch said she needed to move out. But, she also offered a gift. Effron thought it'll just be a penny or two, but he was very mistaken. The witch pulled out a very large boulder. It wasn't just a normal type of boulder. It was a boulder only used by witches, yet it is still a very expensive boulder for witches to use which prompted it to be used less often in the witch villages.

The boulder was a mineral called kracick. It's a soft yet hard material said to be stronger than diamonds but has a soft consistency. it has the appearance of marble but the texture of a cushioned wall. Many more wealthy witches buy 2 by 2 inches of it and carve their initials on it. That small block would cost about roughly 1000 gold pieces. It was just that rare. The boulder she brought was the size of an elephant and costed a fortune.

Effron, knowing the price of the rare stone asked her why and how she got a hold of this precious stone, let alone give him one. She said that after listening to his speech, she was so moved, she took all her savings and used it to buy the boulder. In buying the large boulder, she was asked what she was going to do with it and after telling the truth, she was outcasted and stripped of her daily needs because it was deemed as 'a waste of gold'. She said she wanted to see the boulder be turned into a beautiful fountain reminding her of the speech.

Moved by her gesture, Effron thanked her and started making the fountain."

Tom, once again, spoke up, "But I thought you said the water source was sc-"

"Let me continue." Carl cleared up his throat. "After finishing the fountain, he realized that they won't have enough water to fill up the fountain. The witch then handed him a small vile with a very minuscule amount of a bright, glowing neon blue liquid. She instructed him to pour this liquid onto the fountain. And so he did. The fountain was said to glow a bright blue before clear, pure water poured out of the fountain. The witch told him that this is an infinite supply of pure water. And so, this became the village's water supply."

The party looked at Carl in awe. "Where'd you know all that?" Alaya asked. Carl responded, "Well, I got the access to the library when I was at the army since I was a medic and could use the extra knowledge. I ended up reading about history and all that stuff." Alaya and Hugo nods their heads.

Tom stared at the fountain blankly. He silently got up and went over to it. There was a sign next to it that says 'no throwing coins in the fountain'. That explains the clean bottom. The party soon caught up with him.

Tom scanned around for a worn-out area of the stone. Once he found a small bit that looked rusted and worn out. He quickly grabbed at the area and tried yanking at the thing. Alaya tried to stop him, along with Hugo but Carl grabbed their hands and mouthed 'let 'em be'.

Alaya and Hugo gave him a curious look but complied.

Carl smiled and watched as Tom desperately tried to yank the stone out of place. After 20 minutes of desperate pulling, Tom slumped over and stopped. Keeping his hands still on the stone. He subconsciously rubbed his fingers on the stone. He slumps over even more and his quick breaths and panting slows down in an instance.

"Oh, did I mention it's calming effects?" Carl says. Alaya and Hugo shakes their head. Tom silently sat there, calmer than what the party has ever seen from him. He looks high. But the good, calming high.

Tom finally releases his grip and says, "We should probably go back to the hospital."

And much to Carl's protests, they went back to the jafnrétti hospital anyway.

A/n
I am so sorry for not posting more often, I was having writer's block. I can't tell you how much I stayed up at night thinking of a good plot. I just wanna say thank you for sticking up this far with me and buckle up, 'cuz I got one hell of a plot for you in the next chapter.

Ps. Check out my new book I made with NarissaSchuyler. It's about our campaign I DMed. It's called The Search For a New Land.