We quickly did as we were told, ditching our shoes, boots, and whatever things we wore on our feet (or in Arzias’ case, didn’t wear) and entering into the main sitting area of the house to find a short, elderly human woman, probably in her 80s. And when I say short I mean Fortuna was taller than her, and she only had a couple inches on me. Needless to say, Arzias and Trakban towered over the poor lady, who was surprisingly not surprised to see a minotaur and a lizardfolk just waltz into her house. After the masked guy Edgar was also surprisingly cool with it, which was already weird. I mean, yeah, I get that minotaurs were native to Plauros, but when I say this lady was cool with this, I mean it’s almost like she expected it.

When I opened my mouth to ask about this, she put up a hand saying, “Yes, I knew you were coming. Not only do we have a network of spies all over the region, I myself have a knack for seeing the future.”

“Seeing the future?” Fortuna asked, tilting her head. “Then shouldn’t you have been able to stop the werewolves from taking over the region?”

“Be careful about grouping people together, for not all of the lupine persuasion agreed to be represented by Adelwulf,” she said ominously.

“But…but what about the Gem?” I asked, feeling a sudden tinge of trepidation at the thought of it falling back into the hands of evil so soon after being liberated.

“Oh, dear girl, the Gem’s gone. The Heroes took it with them!”

“The…what?”

“Why yes, part of liberating the Gems involves the Heroes taking them with them on their journey to be used as a key to opening the Temple of Dawn and drawing the Sword of Dawn.”

See, I told you that would come up. I was being intentionally vague on the description of how the Gems worked for the express purpose of preserving the journey as I experienced it, with the knowledge that I had at my disposal at any given time. And while a lot of it was stuff I probably could have guessed, well…I’ll let the old woman continue.

“For you see, the Sword rests beyond a large stone door that only opens in the presence of the four Gems, held by four worthy souls.”

“Oh, so that’s what would stop the Demon King’s generals from just waltzing in and grabbing the sword themselves!” I said as it dawned on me.

“Have you…not been to the Temple?” she asked in disbelief.

“Wellllllllllllll,” I said, awkwardly stalling for time to make up an excuse, “I mean whenever I’d go into Brightdale with my dad the place was always super packed, and I was trying to catch up with the Heroes, and…okay yeah I haven’t actually gone there yet myself, so forgive me for not knowing everything about the Heroes’ quest!” I finished defensively. I guess being able to see the future didn’t make this lady omniscient.

“Interesting, and yet your quest is very closely tied with the quest of the Heroes. While they make for the four Temples to gather the Gems and draw the Sword, I see in your future many hardships that they lacked the time to devote to solving, some even inadvertently caused by the Heroes themselves, as is the case here.”

“Yes, can you explain that a bit more?” Trakban interjected.

“Ah yes, a fellow Plaurosi. As you are no doubt aware, the various lycanthrope tribes of the region suffered much persecution under the thumb of Lady Vanita, with the exception of Adelwulf’s tribe, who took it upon themselves to, at the risk of sounding crass, become Vanita’s personal lapdogs. However, unbeknownst to Lady Vanita, Adelwulf, knowing that the Heroes’ time was nigh, was merely biding his time until she was slain to seize power for himself.”

“And you knew this was happening,” Fortuna said. “Why didn’t you do something about it?”

“You imply that the ability to see the future avails one to the ability to change it. Which is perhaps not necessarily untrue. However…”

“If Adelwulf was sitting pretty like you said,” I began, “he and his forces were likely much more prepared for a long-term campaign of conquest throughout the region than any other groups would be to stop them.”

“Precisely. Those of us that remain after decades of persecution are not nearly as powerful as those who never faced the persecution to begin with,” the old woman concluded.

“Pardon, you said, ‘Those of us that remain,’” Trakban noted.

“Yes, what of it?” the old woman prodded.

“So…you’re…” I stammered.

“Not just me. This small village is all that remains of my tribe.” She cast her eyes to the side, as if she was trying to hide tears. “I saw it coming, and yet there was nothing I could do to stop it. But I also saw that this dark hour was only that in the grand scheme of things: an hour.”

“I’m…pretty sure it’s been much more than a single hour since it’s been more than a day since the Heroes acquired the Gem,” Fortuna said, furrowing her brow.

“I speak metaphorically, you clod,” the woman said, unamused. “Surely you’ve spoken to a religious or spiritual leader of some kind. Maybe read some ancient historical records?”

“Sorry, no, I’m not particularly religious,” Fortuna replied flatly.

“That isn’t...whatever. Anyway, my point is hope has arrived, in the form of you four!” the old woman exclaimed, trying to right the course of the conversation.

“I beg your pardon?” Trakban responded, raising an eyebrow. “You do realize we are not the Heroes, right?”

“Right?” Fortuna agreed. “We’ve got a minotaur trying to be a wizard, a thief, a lizardfolk that’s just…here, and a gnome trying to be a journalist or something. On what planet or plane of existence would we be the sort of people you’d expect to save a kingdom? Nevermind fixing whatever other problems pop up in the Heroes’ wake?”

“It is important to note that while Adelwulf’s faction is the strongest and most prepared for a fight, they are far from the majority of the lycanthropes in the Plauros region. Just the most concentrated. I mean to place out a call to those stragglers, unite them, and force Adelwulf off his metaphorical throne.”

“But will another warlord with delusions of grandeur not take his place?” Trakban asked.

“Trust me, my large friend, you’ll learn the answer to that question soon enough,” she responded with a wink.

Fortuna’s mouth hung open for a bit as she struggled to find the words to respond to this statement before she finally gave in, merely saying, “What does that even mean?”

The old woman raised a hand to stop any further comment, “Never you mind that. Now, it will take some time to summon the other elders. You may use my home as a place to rest and relax.” She pointed to a door opposite the entrance hall. “That leads to my basement, which has all the basic necessities. Rest up, because we’ve got work to do!”

We thanked her and then filed into the basement, which I was surprised to find was more than just a hole in the ground. Instead, it was built into the stone foundation of the house, with a fireplace (and a chimney leading outside, presumably), a nice rug, a few beds, and a lot of food. Suspiciously well-prepared for just the cellar of some old woman’s house. I mean, I sure wasn’t expecting the basement of this old woman’s house to serve as a fully functioning inn, but any port in a storm, I guess.

Fortuna wasted no time in grabbing a small buffet’s worth of food to prepare for dinner. I offered to help, but she refused, saying, “Trust me, Ilala, this is my therapy. You’re doing me more of a favor by letting me cook.” Which was a statement that really confused me, to be honest. I mean, just days before she was, essentially, a slave working in a kitchen at one of the most busy taverns in the city of Brightdale. One would think she’d have some traumatic aversion to cooking in general after that.

I decided I’d pry a bit. “What do you mean? I mean, I’ve noticed that you really like cooking, but considering your experience working for Khiet, I’d have figured you’d do whatever you could to avoid it.”

She sighed as she cut some potatoes. “You know, it’s difficult to explain. Cooking professionally and cooking for yourself and your friends are two very different experiences. Plus remember I was a slave. I mean, it was my fault that I became a slave, and it was better that than being turned over to the city guard, but still.”

I nodded. “Yeah, I guess that makes sense. Still…”

“No, to be honest, it’s one of few things that remind me of my parents. As a kid they always had me helping out in the kitchen. Dad especially. I mean, he couldn’t really cook to save his life, so it usually fell upon me to make sure we had something decent to eat anyway, but like…it’s something we did together. It reminds me of simpler times.”

I blinked, unsure of how to approach that statement. A fifteen-year-old reminiscing on simpler times, namely times when her last living parent wasn’t in prison somewhere…it was a lot to take in.

I’m not sure how long I let that silence hang in the air, but it must have been long enough that Fortuna felt compelled to say something. “Plus, it just feels nice to be able to do something nice for people, in one of the few ways I actually know how. I mean…I only know how to steal and how to cook, and while stealing can be quite a rush when you steal from someone you don’t like, I usually don’t feel good about it for long. Cooking, though, at least it’s something I can offer.”

I nodded again. “Well, thanks. I appreciate it.” I decided that was an appropriate place to end the discussion. I sure wasn’t going to think twice about her comments about “doing something nice” and “cooking for friends”, as even I’m smart enough to not ruin a good thing, even if I was surprised at how quickly she felt comfortable considering us friends.

Anyway, I let Fortuna get back to what she was doing and I decided to pop in on Arzias and Trakban, who, surprisingly, were speaking to one another in…well, some language other than the common tongue, anyway, involving a lot of hissing. Before I could open my mouth to ask what was up, Arzias excitedly switched to speaking her halting, somewhat broken attempt at the common tongue.

“Why you no tell me Trakban speak lizardfolk language? So much easier!”

“I uh…I didn’t know. Trakban never told me,” I said, glaring at Trakban.

“Oh yes, my apologies. I do enjoy studying other languages. I cannot speak much of the lizardfolk tongue, so I figured I might as well get some practice in while we are accompanied by one,” he said sheepishly.

“What other languages do you speak?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Let us see…there is the tongue of the minotaurs, the common tongue, lizardfolk, I know some words in elvish…most goblin curse words, which accounts for about ninety percent of their spoken language. I think that is about it.” He looked at the ceiling, as if trying to remember something else.

“Wait, where did you pick all that up? When were you going to tell us?”

“I am certain it would have come up eventually.” He shrugged.

“Interesting…” I said, speechless.

“You should learn lizardfolk language, Ilala!” Arzias said. “It easy. Much more easy than common tongue!”

I opened my mouth to object, but then I thought for a moment. Sure, I could definitely stand to learn more languages than just the common tongue. Heck, despite being a gnome, I barely spoke the gnomish dialect because almost nobody Seameet spoke it either. “You know what, I’d like that,” I finally said. “So what were you guys talking about?”

“Mainly just getting to know one another,” Trakban said. “Up to this point, we have neglected to take much time to chat with Arzias, and to be honest, I find her fascinating.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, reflecting on how little I’d really spoken with Arzias up to this point.

“Just how adventurous she is. Yes, she is on a mission to save her island from destruction, but the fact that she is enjoying herself so much is so different from what I have come to expect from the few lizardfolk I have met throughout my travels.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Have you met a lot of lizardfolk during your travels? I didn’t think they were that ubiquitous of a race to be honest.”

Arzias chimed in. “We really not, but some travelers out there. Usually from other clans. Other islands.”

I mentally slapped myself on the forehead for forgetting that Arzias was there with us, especially since I wasn’t sure how much of the conversation she understood. I mean, she probably understood quite a bit considering she picked up the word “ubiquitous” without stopping to question it. Thinking back to my own experience with gnomish, I was (and still am) much better at hearing and understanding it than I am at speaking it. Even picking up words I don’t know through context clues is much easier than remembering them when I’m trying to speak. Either way, I blurted out, “Oh jeez, I’m sorry Arzias, I forgot you were there, that was really rude of me.”

Arzias shook her head. “Ilala fine. Me prefer listening anyway. Learning new words. Anyway, Trakban worried about something. Maybe you can help.” Trakban shot a look back at Arzias, seemingly upset that she’d just outed him, before he nodded.

“Why, what’s up, Big Guy?” I asked.

“Oh, it is not that big of a deal,” he said, frowning. “Just…something the village elder said bothers me.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, trying to remember the conversation.

“She said that I would soon know what to do if some other warlord tried to conquer this realm. It was a very strange thing to say that I, that is, me in particular, would understand what would occur.”

I folded my arms. “You know, you’re right. That’s a very odd way to put it.”

“Do you think she sees something in my future that I do not?”

“I mean, maybe. Maybe you’ll end up ruling this place!” I said playfully.

“Please do not joke about that sort of thing!” Trakban said, reeling back in shock. “As if anybody in Plauros would listen to one of my kind! I do not even want that sort of responsibility!”

Panicking, I quickly responded, “Relax, relax, I was only kidding. After who knows how long under the thumb of some vampire, I’m guessing the people here don’t want another king. Maybe we’ll figure something else out. Maybe the elder will have some ideas. At any rate, I imagine she’ll call us up when the others get here. However long that’s going to take.”