Chapter One

Chapter One

Once upon a time, the bravest and most chivalrous knight in all the land set out into the deep, dark forest. She had been tasked with rescuing the kingdom’s beautiful princess, who was trapped in a tall tower in the forest’s centre and waiting patiently for her rescuer. But the knight knew this would be no easy task, as the princess was guarded by the fierce, fire-breathing dragon that had captured her and brought her to the tower in the first place. Still, the knight strode bravely onwards, confident that through the power of honour and justice, they could slay the dragon and save the princess…

***

Sir Emilia was perhaps less confident than she told herself she was. She conceded she was the bravest knight in the kingdom, but she didn’t think bravery would be enough to slay a powerful dragon of all things. In fact, what was stopping the dragon from simply flying out of the reach of her valiant sword and harassing her with fire? Come to mention it, why hadn’t she recruited some archers to potentially prevent that? For some strange reason, however, she couldn’t think of a single place she’d be able to go to find any. She’d just have to hope the dragon had as strong a sense of chivalry as her, she grimly concluded. She tightened her shining armour around her slender frame, hefted her noble sword and valiant shield, and carried on towards the forest’s centre.

***

Princess Sariel was very very bored. She had been waiting around in this damn tower for… she wasn’t sure how long, actually… and she was getting sick of not doing anything about it! A part of her wanted to stay put and wait for a knight to rescue her – after all, she was a princess, not an adventurer. She was clad in her silk dress and hennin, and her body was lithe and toned from several years of… tea parties or whatever else princesses did. She definitely didn’t have the training or equipment she’d need to slay a dragon and make it back to her castle safely – and besides, if a knight did come to rescue her they might be cute! But at the same time, a much larger part of her couldn’t bear to sit still for a moment longer. She had to at least TRY something! She looked around the small room she was kept in, and started coming up with a plan…

***

Sir Emilia tentatively walked closer and closer towards the clearing in the forest’s centre, dappled sunlight reflecting off her shining armour. The tower rose above her as she stepped out into the clearing, and as she turned her head up towards its top she spotted a black figure circling in the sky – the dragon! Emilia tensed up immediately, though it seemed the dragon had not yet spotted her, as it continued flying erratically above the clearing. Quite erratically, Emilia noticed – it seemed to be swooping up and down for no discernible reason, and even doing loops in the air. Emilia decided to use the opportunity to try to attract the princess’s attention – if the dragon was preoccupied with something in the air, she could potentially rescue the princess without even alerting the beast!
“Hello?” she quietly called out, though evidently not quietly enough. She got no response from the tower, but she saw movement in the skies. The dragon had locked eyes on her and was hurtling down towards her! Emilia quickly raised her shield and braced for impact, only for the dragon to land harmlessly in front of her. The beast opened its great maw, and Emilia grimaced, preparing for a taste of its fiery breath.
“Hi, I’m Valna!” the dragon spoke, its deep rumbling voice not at all matching its inflections. “What’s your name?”
“E-Em- Sir Emilia, of…” Emilia began, quite confused.
“Nice to meet you, Emilia!” the dragon cheerily continued. “Sorry I didn’t come down to say hi as soon as I saw you, but I was having so much fun flying around! I forgot how entertaining it was, even if I’ve been doing it my whole life!”
“Hold on a moment, I uh, um,” Emilia was at a loss for words. “Sorry, Valna? Were you the dragon who kidnapped the princess and locked her up in this tower?”
“Yep!” Valna happily admitted.
“I didn’t expect to be asking this, but… why?”
Valna’s brow furrowed at that. Emilia worried she may have soured the mood.
“Hmm…” the dragon mulled it over. “I don’t remember.”
Emilia raised an eyebrow. “You don’t remember?”
“Nope!” Valna replied apologetically. “I hope it was a good reason.”
Emilia struggled for a rational explanation. Failing that, she decided to try to approach the problem logically.
“Well, Valna,” she began, “you don’t seem very, well, mean.”
“Oh no no no, of course not!” Valna frantically agreed.
“And I think we can both agree that kidnapping someone and holding them in a tower without their permission is a pretty mean thing to do.” Emilia continued.
“I guess so…” Valna conceded.
“So, if you don’t want to be mean… maybe you could let her go?” the knight nervously requested.
Valna puzzled it over. “Well, um… I just worry I’d be lonely…” she admitted.
“Oh, w-well I’m sure you could come visit!” the placatory words spilled out of Emilia’s mouth before she could really think them through. “And I’m sure the princess would like you a lot more if you helped her out of the tower!”
The dragon paused for a moment, then bared its teeth. Emilia quickly tensed up and gripped her shield tightly, but it quickly became apparent that that was its attempt at a smile.
“I think you’re right! Thanks Emilia!” Valna cheerily responded. “You can come with me to the top of the tower and we can free her together if you’d like!”
Emilia triumphantly followed the dragon around to the other side of the clearing, where a much bigger window revealed the insides of the tower. But inside there was no princess! Instead, a knotted rope of colourful fabric hung from the window ledge, dangling down until a few metres above the ground. The patch of dirt underneath showed a pair of regal slippers heading out into the forest. Emilia locked eyes with the dragon.
“Huh, looks like we won’t free her together after all.” Valna said.
“This doesn’t make any sense!” Emilia complained. “There must be at least three metres between the rope and the ground, and she’s an untrained princess in a dress and slippers! I’d assume there’d at least be a sound! How did she fashion together this rope, anyway?”
“I don’t know…” Valna responded inquisitively. “I don’t think there was anything like this in the room…”
Emilia had a closer look at the colourful rope. It seemed to be made of strips of silk tied together. Quite a lot of silk. About a full dress’s worth. Emilia very quickly regretted looking into this as she felt her cheeks redden. Just then, she heard a voice call out from all around her.
“Unbelievable! How could you have messed a story this simple up so badly? I know what I should do…”
Emilia suddenly felt very woozy as she blacked out.
 

Chapter One

Once upon a time, the bravest and most chivalrous knight in all the land set out into the deep, dark forest. She had been tasked with rescuing the kingdom’s beautiful princess, who was trapped in a tall tower in the forest’s centre and waiting patiently for her rescuer. But the knight knew this would be no easy task, as the princess was guarded by the fierce, fire-breathing dragon that had captured her and brought her to the tower in the first place. Still, the knight strode bravely onwards, confident that through the power of honour and justice, they could slay the dragon and save the princess…

***

Sir Valna strolled calmly through the deep, dark forest. She knew that some people found the place scary, but she felt almost at home amongst all the trees. She was the bravest knight in all the land, after all. It was going to be an exciting day as well – she was on her way to slay the nasty dragon that had taken the poor princess all this way away without even asking! It was an honourable quest, so Valna knew she just had to succeed. She was clad in her shining armour, and had her noble sword and valiant shield at easy reach – perfect weapons for slaying a dragon! She knew she couldn’t be far away now – navigating through forests came easily to her – so she readied her weapons and strolled cheerily onwards. She couldn’t wait to help that poor princess!

***

Princess Emilia adjusted her hennin as she gazed out of the tower’s window. She had been waiting for a knight to come and rescue her for quite some time now. At some point she had decided on that course of action, though she couldn’t exactly remember when or why… Still, she knew she wouldn’t have chosen any course without a sensible reason, so she kept at it. It wasn’t as if there was much else she could do – the tower was far too high to escape without outside help, and the insides were positively threadbare. So Emilia waited, more and more impatient to return to her important royal duties. Strangely, the princess found it difficult to remember just what those duties were.
Emilia’s thoughts were cut short as the huge head of a dragon burst up in front of the window. The princess fell backwards in terror, and scrambled away from the window, her dainty slippers clattering against the tower’s cold stone floor.
“There must be something wrong with my eyes,” the dragon said, its voice a low grumble.
Emilia was almost too baffled to be terrified. “P-pardon?” she forced out.
“There must be something wrong with my eyes,” the dragon purred, “because I can’t take them off of you.”
Emilia didn’t know what she had expected the dragon to say, but it wasn’t this.
“Do you believe in love at first sight?” the beast continued, “or should I-”
“Hold on just a moment!” Emilia interrupted, her puzzlement finally conquering her fear. “What are you doing?”
“Flirting, duh!” the dragon responded.
“What?!”
“Well, I’m bored! And when I’m bored, I like to flirt!” the dragon explained, as if this was completely obvious.
Confusion had now frozen Emilia as much as fear had earlier. Luckily for her, before the dragon could say any more utterly baffling things, she heard a voice from the other side of the clearing.
“Hey, mister dragon! I’m here to slay you!”
The princess breathed a sigh of relief, as the dragon’s head rose above the tower’s window and towards the new arrival. Her knight had finally arrived. Her relief was short-lived, however, as a giant talon reached into the room, grabbed her by the leg, and dragged her out of the window!

***

The dragon hovered across from Valna, eyeing its new challenger. Dangling upside-down above the ground was the beautiful princess, her leg in the dragon’s clutches, one arm desperately trying to keep her pointy hat on her head and the other arm desperately trying to keep her dress below her waist. Valna clutched her shield tightly, pointed her sword at the beast, and gave her ultimatum.
“Put the poor princess down right now or I’ll slay you, mister dragon!”
Somehow, the dragon didn’t seem at all intimidated by this. “My name isn’t ‘mister dragon’, it’s Sariel,” was all it said in response.
Valna took that as a no. She dashed forward, sword at the ready, only for the dragon to flap its wings and hover just out of the range of her blade! Valna instinctively reached for her bow, only to find it missing from her back. Right, she didn’t have a bow, she reminded herself. A chivalrous knight like her wouldn’t use a bow, after all. Then why did she…
Any more thinking could wait. The dragon swooped around in the air, causing the screaming princess to fly around like a ragdoll, and turned its head towards Valna. It opened its gaping maw, and let loose a huge breath of, well, breath. Valna was quite confused. It certainly smelled better than she expected a dragon’s breath to, but it didn’t seem to be doing much.
“What are you doing?!” the princess wailed in between her screams.
“I’m trying to breathe fire, but I can’t seem to remember how…” the dragon bashfully admitted, though Valna didn’t think that was what the princess was referring to.
The dragon hovered in place above Valna for a little while, trying to figure out how to do what it had presumably spent its life doing. It tried breathing in, it tried breathing out, it tried blowing, it tried snorting, all to no avail. In the meantime, Valna was hatching a plan. If she didn’t have a bow, she’d have to find some other way of attacking the creature. When the dragon seemed at its most preoccupied with the whole fire-breathing thing, Valna pulled her sword back, and threw it at its throat.
The dragon turned to face Valna just in time to receive a slash across its face. It roared in pain, then with a flap of its wings darted forwards towards her, setting the princess screaming again! Valna held her shield out in front of her, realising too late that the dragon was not charging her, but dashing past! She quickly figured that the creature was flying away from where her sword had landed, and she wouldn’t have time to grab the sword and get a good shot with it. As the dragon hurtled past the clearing and over the treeline, Valna knew this was her last chance. Grabbing her shield, she quickly spun around and tossed it like a discus at the dragon! The shield sliced through the air, soaring forward towards its target, and striking the dragon on the back of its claw. Specifically, the claw holding the princess. As the dragon grunted in pain, its talons recoiled and lost their grip on the princess, causing her to slip right out… and fall right down.
“Oops,” said Valna.

***

Branches upon branches bashed and buffeted Emilia as she tumbled towards the forest floor. She hit the ground with an unpleasant thud, although mercifully not an unpleasant crack. Still, she had hardly emerged unscathed. Scratches, bruises, and wounds dotted her whole body, her silk dress was filthy and torn in several places, and her precious hennin dangled from a high branch above her head, taunting her. She stumbled back into the clearing, where the knight was sitting a bit dejectedly and the dragon was licking its wounds.
She stared at the knight.
The knight sheepishly stared back.
She stared at the dragon.
The dragon sheepishly stared back.
“You’re both as bad as each other,” Emilia tersely announced. “I’m going home. I don’t want either of you to accompany me.”
Suddenly, an ethereal voice echoed around the trio.
“No, no, no! What was that? I thought switching you around would improve this, but you still somehow failed in every possible way. Ugh, I suppose I’ll try…”
Emilia felt faint as the world turned black around her.  

Chapter One

Once upon a time, the bravest and most chivalrous knight in all the land set out into the deep, dark forest. She had been tasked with rescuing the kingdom’s beautiful princess, who was trapped in a tall tower in the forest’s centre and waiting patiently for her rescuer. But the knight knew this would be no easy task, as the princess was guarded by the fierce, fire-breathing dragon that had captured her and brought her to the tower in the first place. Still, the knight strode bravely onwards, confident that through the power of honour and justice, they could slay the dragon and save the princess…

***

Sir Sariel slinked on towards the centre of the forest. She was close. Soon she would be face-to-face with the dragon she had been sent to kill. Well, ideally not face-to-face – she’d much prefer to catch the creature unawares. Perhaps it wasn’t the most sporting way of fighting, but Sariel figured that seeing as she was the most chivalrous knight in all the land, whatever she thought was the best idea must be the chivalrous thing to do. She had made some adjustments to her gear to help her strategy. Obviously a clunky shield would be no help, and the armour around her legs just felt so restrictive, so she had left them all behind as soon as she got into the woods. Now she was moving much faster and much more silently – perfect for a noble knight, right? Using the shadows of the trees to veil her approach, Sariel slinked closer and closer to the clearing and tower…

***

Emilia swished her tail back and forth in anticipation. It had been quite some time since she had brought her captive princess to this tower, and for some reason she was near certain a knight would appear at any moment to contest her over it. She cursed herself for bringing the princess here of all places: the deep forest surrounding them concealed any would-be attackers until they reached the clearing and made the area virtually impossible to patrol from the air. Surely a tower in more open terrain or perhaps a mountain cave would serve as a much more effective location, but she strangely couldn’t think of any place like that, or any place besides the forest she found herself in. Come to think of it, why had she bothered to capture the princess in the first place? It clearly wasn’t to eat her or anything of the sort, or she wouldn’t have gone through the hassle of imprisoning her in a tower. She figured it must be for political leverage of some kind, but she couldn’t for the life of her remember the details, or why as a powerful dragon she would even concern herself with human political affairs. Just as she decided she should fly up and check on the princess again, Emilia heard a rustle from the forest behind her. She craned her serpentine neck towards the source of the sound, only to see nothing but slightly swaying trees. Moments later, she felt a sudden bump as something landed and latched onto her back!

***

Sariel clung on to the dragon’s coarse scaly back with all her might, hacking away at it with her sword when she got the opportunity. The sword seemed to ineffectually clang against the beast’s hardened scales, but still it roared out in what Sariel assumed was pain, so she kept at it. The dragon thrashed and thrashed around, trying as hard as it could to dislodge her, but the knight kept a firm grasp upon her quarry.
“Get off! Get off me!” the dragon demanded, in more of a panicked yelp than an authoritative order. Sariel clung on tighter.
With a great flap of its wings, the beast took to the skies, Sariel in tow. It flew erratically around the clearing, clearly more preoccupied with dislodging Sariel than with any displays of aerial mobility. Buffeted by wind and scale, Sariel clung on for dear life against the dragon’s back. Looking around at the tower, she had a little idea. Maybe she’d oblige the beast’s request after all?
Waiting for the perfect moment as the dragon thrashed and swooped downwards near the tower, Sariel positioned her legs on the creature’s back, crouched, and sprung off it, hurtling through the tower’s large window… and directly onto the princess.

***

Princess Valna hadn’t been having a very fun day. Not only did that mean old dragon trap her all the way out here, but there wasn’t even anything to do in the tower except wait around! She wished she at least had a book or something to keep her busy. So when she heard some big commotion going on in the clearing below her, she couldn’t wait to see! As she leaned out of the window to get a good look, she saw that big dragon thrashing around and causing a fuss… and there on its back was what looked like her knight in shining armour! Well, some shining armour, anyway. It looked like she had lost a few parts somewhere. The dragon flew up and out of her line of sight, and Valna leaned further out of the window for a few fleeting glances of it dipping and diving through the skies! Then, she saw the dragon swooping down almost on top of her! She ducked back behind the windowsill, only to be knocked backwards by something big and metallic colliding with her!
“Oww,” Valna pouted.
“Sorry about that!” the knight profusely apologised. “But I hope we haven’t gotten off on the wrong foot. My name’s Sariel, and I’ve come to save you.” She gave Valna a coy wink.
“Oh, goodie!” Valna replied. “So you’ve got a good way to get us down from this big tower?”
Sariel’s smirk faltered just a little bit.

***

After a few minutes’ brainstorming, Sariel was at a bit of a loss. Valna had apparently searched the entire room for some sort of hidden passage or useful item and found nothing. The one plan Sariel had was tying all their clothes together into a big rope, but most of her clothes were made of metal and she didn’t think a hoity-toity princess would be too keen on taking off her dress, even if Valna seemed quite nice. Before she considered broaching the subject to the princess, the beastly head of the dragon rose into view of the tower room. The creature had seemingly regained its composure after Sariel’s last tussle with it. Sariel heard a rumble in the dragon’s throat, and wished she hadn’t tossed away her shield to maybe block some of the oncoming fire. Instead, the rumble turned into more of an ‘ahem’ as the dragon began talking.
“I take it you’re the knight that was coming to save the princess?” it queried.
“You bet! The bravest and most chivalrous knight in all the land!” Sariel confidently replied.
“And you’ve made your way into the princess’s chamber in the tower.”
“Absolutely!” Sariel gave a slightly smug smile. “And there wasn’t a thing you could do about it!”
The dragon’s eyes twitched as if it was trying to furrow its brow. “Now, correct me if I’m wrong, but you don’t have many means of getting down from there, do you? It’s of a distinctly lethal altitude, and you don’t seem to have much in the way of equipment,” the dragon surmised.
Sariel stayed silent at that one.
“This suits me just fine,” the dragon responded matter-of-factly. “Quite frankly I imagine the kingdom’s premiere knight would make a fairly strong political bargaining chip on its own, so I’m really quite-”
The beast was cut off as Sariel suddenly leapt forwards and grabbed hold of its horns. Her feet lodged themselves firmly in the creature’s eye sockets, and it yowled out in what Sariel was confident was pain. It frantically thrashed its neck around, hitting it against the sides of the tower, before it reeled its head back and took flight. Sariel tightened her grip around the dragon’s head as the two of them tumbled clumsily around the air.
“Aah! It’s on my face! It’s on my face!” the dragon whimpered.
As Sariel clung on for dear life, an ethereal voice echoed around her.
“Oh, this is a FARCE! I have had enough of you three!”
The world faded out around Sariel as she felt her grip loosen and fall away, though strangely, she didn’t feel like she was falling…  

Chapter Two?

Emilia awoke at twilight in a strange place. Vibrant trees and flowers surrounded her, while strange pink and blue fires danced around her, bathing her surroundings in their unnatural hues. In the corner of her eye, she could see what looked like a glint of copper, though as she turned her neck towards it, it moved with her, taunting her from her periphery. Her neck also felt strangely short, and tight. She swished her tail to calm her nerves, and yet felt no feeling. She tilted her head down, and gasped at what she saw.
Beneath her was a human body, wrapped up in metal and fabric. Experimentally, she tried moving a talon, only for the scrawny human hand to move instead. She moved this hand up to her face, and felt weak, squishy human flesh where robust scales should be. She grasped at the glint of copper in her periphery, and pulled some strange contraption off her head. It looked like two glass disks attached to a spool of metal, although having removed them she found she could barely see, the whole world around her becoming a blur. She surmised it must be some sort of magical artifact for grounding one’s senses, so she carefully returned it to her human head and her vision was restored.
“I see the three of you have finally decided to wake up,” an ethereal voice echoed from every direction around her. Emilia looked to the side, and saw two other humanoid figures sitting near her. One seemed to be the princess, though clad in decidedly un-princess-like leather. The other was the knight, who had seemingly traded her shining armour for dark and immodest clothing. They looked at each other and at her, but did not seem to recognise her.
“Ah, I suppose I should make myself a bit more corporeal,” the ethereal voice grumbled. The dancing pink and blue flames that dotted the area paused, before they were all drawn to a space in front of the three of them. The flames merged and mingled together, until in their place stood a tall figure. It resembled an elf, only much taller, and emanating the same ethereal light that had seemingly comprised it. Emilia did not think it imprudent to assume that this being was responsible for her current predicament.
“Who are you, and why have you trapped me in this puny human body?” Emilia questioned.
The being looked confused for only a moment. “Puny human body? Ah, I must have neglected to end your bewitching!” it chuckled to itself, the ethereal voice now only coming from its direction. “Well I must admit, that little oversight was the first bit of good entertainment I’ve received this evening!”
The being snapped its fingers, and suddenly everything came back to Emilia. She wasn’t a dragon – well, obviously she wasn’t a dragon, she could hardly believe she even thought she was a dragon in the first place. She looked over at Sariel and Valna, and saw that they too seemed to be quite relieved. Sariel gave her a smile and a thumbs up.
“As for who I am, I am of course Asterion, the Story Teller,” the being continued. “I deigned to give you three the privilege of entertaining me, and yet you failed at every step! I gave you the simplest story possible, and yet not one of you was able to slay the dragon OR save the princess!” Emilia could think of quite a few reasons for that, but she held her tongue. This was clearly a powerful and petty being, and she didn’t fancy being ‘bewitched’ again if she could avoid it.
“Hey, this is the Feywild, right?” Sariel questioned. “I don’t remember coming here.”
“That’s because I brought you here myself. You are not the first mortals I’ve given this rare privilege to, but you are by far the most incompetent! You should be thankful that I am merely stripping this privilege from you rather than punishing you for your poor performance.”
“Did we really do that badly?” Valna tentatively piped up.
“I suppose, in all my boundless humility, I must admit a small part of the fault, at least to begin with. I assumed, while you were unconscious, that you in the armour would make a braver and more capable knight than you were, that you who put so much work into your beauty would make a more cooperative princess, and that you with the harsher clothes and harsher countenance could make a fierce dragon. Perhaps I misjudged, or most likely overestimated, you. However, even when I adjusted your roles, which I did twice in my desperation for entertainment, you consistently failed in each! So, to answer your question, yes, you did do ‘that badly.’ Now that I have made that clear, I do not wish to have you in my court for any longer.”
Emilia once more felt the now-familiar wooziness overtake her, as she slightly dreaded where – or who – she would end up.

***

Sariel, Valna, and Emilia all awoke at once by the side of a small path leading into a dark forest. They stood up and brushed themselves off, while trying to regain their bearings.
“Should I even attempt to make sense of what happened to us today?” Emilia asked, not knowing herself whether it was rhetorical.
“I think we just had a run-in with an archfey, and not a very nice one,” responded Sariel. “We’re probably lucky he didn’t like our show too much, actually!”
Emilia grimaced a bit. The machinations of the powerful archfey were said to be incomprehensible to mere mortals such as herself. Personally, she imagined ‘mere mortals’ just couldn’t comprehend such extreme levels of pettiness.
“But we’re home safe now?” Emilia asked. “Relatively speaking, of course. Are we at least back on the Material Plane?”
“Yep!” Valna cheerily responded, having done her own checking in the meantime. “Only about five hours’ walk from Waterdeep, I think!”
“Ooh, nice and easy!” Sariel said, without a hint of irony.
“Well, I don’t suppose either of you can remember why we came out to this forest in the first place?” Emilia queried.
“Hmm, let’s see…” Sariel mulled it over. “Oh, that’s right! There were rumours that in the middle of this dark forest there’s a clearing with a big tower, and some mystical treasure waiting at the top!”
The three all exchanged glances at each other.
“I think we should head back to Waterdeep,” they said in unison.