We open up at the guild, it’s a starry night outside with the cauldron of cosmos swirling overhead, it’s a fun night of camaraderie and of celebration. Juni, Falconer and Zaylee are messing around. A Nightingale flies overhead.
Juni: Hey, Hey, Hey! Put down the ball!! Put it down!!
Zaylee: Never, you’ll have to pry it out of my hands
Falconer: Falcon, fetch that ball
The Falcon jumps off of Falconer and grabs the ball
Zaylee: HEY!!
Falconer’s bird brings the ball to Juni
Juni: Thanks!
Zaylee: No fair!!
Falconer: Well maybe you should share the ball
Zaylee: Alright
Falconer: Jeez, y'all are full grown adults you’d think you’d be able to show some decent manners
Zaylee: Nope…I prefer to remain carefree and high spirited!!
Juni: WIth an oversized ego to boot huh
Zaylee: I wanna have fun and live while we’re young, can you really blame me for that?
Juni: Not really
Falconer: But you make it hard for me to enjoy living while I’M young
Juni: Loosen up
During the shouting and fun, Hyane walks in
Hyane: Seems like I wasn’t missing much
Falconer: Yeah you were, you were missing us?
Hyane: Oh
Juni: C’mon Hyane, join us, it’s fun
Hyane: Heh I’d love too
Falconer: I’d love if you stayed here-
Juni: I bet you do
Zaylee: C’mon, let’s have some more fun
Hyane: Having fun, the good times, this is what I fight for
Falconer: If the four of us could stay like this forever, we wouldn’t need anything else, we-
Falconer is jolted back to reality by a bird call, he wakes up to see Juni and Zaylee already stirring around the camp
Juni: Oh hey, you’re awake…
Falconer: Damn it….
Zaylee: Damn it?
Falconer: It’s nothing…
Zaylee: He probably had that dream again
Falconer: …
Juni: Ah…
Falconer: It’s not my fault…that I miss him….
Juni: It’s not but these…dreams…you keep having them and…we’re worried about you
Falconer: It’s fine…I’m fine….
Zaylee: Are you sure, you don’t always have to be fine ya know, sometimes you can admit you’re not ok?
Falconer: I’m serious….I’m fine…
Juni: In any case, we should get moving, Columbia isn’t far off from here
Falconer: Oh yeah we need to collect a token for the Board of Mysteries
Zaylee: Let’s get this token and be on our merry way
Begin Perimeter Forest 1
When you’re 50% of the way through
Juni: Columbia is always touted as some magical happy place by the media, it’s why I don’t like it
Zaylee: It’s probably not all that anyway
Falconer: I wouldn’t doubt if it was a better place to live then Baltimore, a new god shows up there every other week
Juni: Oh yeah Columbia has their own version of The Century Corps? The Neighborhood Watch I think?
Zaylee: Why does that name sound familiar?
Falconer: No clue
Resume Perimeter Forest 1
When you’re done, we come across the city of Columbia proper and The Heroes find themselves in a perimeter District
Falconer: Quite the factory they’ve built here
Zaylee: Well the founder wanted to emphasize the industry of the city, no idea why?
Juni: Ok guys, so where exactly is the guy who has The Token?
Zaylee: I believe he’s in District 3, which isn’t too far off from here
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Falconer: Let’s go so I can leave faster
Begin Perimeter District 1
When you’re 25% of the way through
Zaylee: So what is this token we have to grab anyway?
Falconer: It has some kind of bird on it, apparently it was taken from them a long time ago
Juni: Darn, so we have a thief on our hands?
Falconer: Or more like an unfulfilled lease
Zaylee: Well we should retrieve this token imminently
Falconer: Yeah, it could posses some dangerous power?
Resume Perimeter District 1
When you’re 50% of the way through, a raven flies overhead of the party
Falconer: A raven…
Zaylee: So what? It’s just a bird?
Falconer: Uhm…you do know who you’re talking too, right?
Zaylee: My bad, so what’s notable about this?
Juni: Ravens are often bad omens
Zaylee: I could also feel a deep astral energy
Juni: I can feel something faint as well
Zaylee: So what…you want to chase a raven now?
Falconer: No…I’m just curious
Resume Perimeter District 1
When you’re 75% of the way through
Falconer: I can feel a weirdly potent energy surge up ahead…
Zaylee: What do you mean by that?
Falconer: Like I can feel something bellowing at my very core
Juni: I can sense something too, something else that is off
Falconer: Me too, it’s just up ahead
Zaylee: This is something we didn’t sign up for…
Resume Perimeter District 1
When you’re done, The Party comes across a teenager who is surrounded by a few birds being harassed by an old man in a suit and a sharp unfeeling glare
Old Man: Alright kid, hand over your crest..
Teenager: No, how WOULD I even be able to to do that?
Old Man: You could give it to me or I could take it, the choice is yours?
Teenager: What that-
Old Man: You made up your mind
As The Old Man moved to absorb the crest, Falconer’s Falcon flew infront of him, almost instinctively, as soon as that happened, Zaylee swung her mace at The Old Man
Old Man: Who the hell are you?
Zaylee: We’re the Century Corps, now who the hell are you?
Old Man: I’m The Buzzard, I scavenge crests and leave nothing behind once I take them
Falconer: The ability to…take a crest?
Buzzard: Oh yes, I can even take yours right now
The Buzzard moves to take Falconer’s falcon but The Raven from earlier dive bombs and distracts The Buzzard
Teenager: My name is Nest, and thanks for saving me but we gotta run
Juni: Stuff is happening at a mile per minute…
Nest: Just follow me…
A Robin hatches from Nest’s hair and explodes with powerful force, injuring The Buzzard and allows Nest to run into District 2 with The Party
Juni: That was close, how do we even defend against someone with that kinda power?
Nest: You keep running from The Buzzard, he’s terrorizing this town, and he’s been one step ahead of The Neighborhood Watch at every single turn
Falconer: So this Buzzard character is kind of like a menace that you’re having a hard time dealing with
Zaylee: How do you even win against someone like that?
Nest: Hopefully we can come up with a plan?
Falconer: So what now?
Juni: Let’s get that bird token or whatever?
Nest: Bird Token?
Zaylee: Some chump in District 3 has a Bird Token, got no idea who it is tho?
Nest: Huh…I may know who you’re talking about?
Juni: You do?
Zaylee: Take us to him then
Nest: Ok, but he doesn’t like visitors…
Falconer: Doesn’t like visitors…ok…
Begin District 2
When you are 33% of the way through
Falconer: So Nest? You had a bird hatch out of your hair, what was that about?
Nest: Oh, well birds just leave stuff in my hair, they’ve done that ever since I was young
Falconer: So you’re like a natural friend to them?
Nest: Yeah
Falconer: So that must be why my Falcon reacted to your cry for help?
Nest: Oh, that’s nice of him
Falconer: So birds really just like you huh
Nest: Yup
Resume District 2
When you are 66% of the way through
Zaylee: So Nest? What’s your life like?
Nest: Well My Mom died when I was young due to a genetic disease so I lived with my Father till he kicked me out of the house.
Juni: Darn
Nest: Yeah…darn indeed
Falconer: Seems like fortune’s had it rough with you?
Nest: Yes..I have not had it easy but I still think I live my life well enough
Juni: Huh…
Resume District 2
When you are 90% of the way through
Falconer: Alright we-
The Buzzard reappears
Buzzard: Hello, unfortunately I can’t let you get much farther
Two crestless humans appear
Nest: What…the hell are those
Buzzard: After taking a crest, I take the husk that’s left and turn it into my puppet
The Buzzard Puppets attack The Party
Falconer: Alright guys…we have to get past him
Zaylee: Let’s go
Fight against Buzzard Puppets
When you win
Buzzard: It seems you lot are more formidable than I thought, I’ll be seeing you later
The Buzzard disappears
Zaylee: He can just do that??
Juni: Our foe appears to be more powerful then we previously thought
Falconer: I think we must press on nonetheless, we have to fight back
Nest: The House you’re looking for is just ahead, we must make haste
Resume District 2
When you’re at the end of it, Nest will lead the party towards what looks like an old, decrepit house
Falconer: So this is the mystery manor where the token is?
Nest: Yup
Nest knocks on the door
Nest: Hey, it’s me, open the door
Voice Behind The Door: Do you have anyone with you?
Nest: Yeah
Voice Behind The Door: Ok fine I’ll let them in
The Figure opens the door, revealing a familiar face
The Detective: Oh bloody hell not you lot
Falconer: Oh hey, it’s you
Zaylee: Hey who is that guy?
Juni: A detective who helped solve the case of The Minter
Nest: Oh so you’ve met? Awesome
The Detective: Yes, but I’ve noticed there’s only three of you?
Nest: What’s weird about that?
The Detective: Well they have a friend who eats people who normally came along for this sort of thing, I don’t see him anywhere?
The Century Corps members fall silent
Nest: Uh…
The Detective: Huh, what’s this about?
Falconer: He’s no longer with us
The Detective: Huh…
Nest: Oh that’s awful
Juni: I don’t…care about that right now, where’s The Token?
The Detective: Board of Mysteries sent you huh?
Zaylee: They did, what Token do you have
The Detective: Follow me…
The Party follows The Detective inside
The Detective: This is my place, ignore all the alcohol for a second
The Detective goes into a drawer and takes out a token with a picture of a Bluebird on it
Falconer: A bluebird?
The Detective: There’s a myth that this token can provide the person who possess it with a form of happiness, I took it to do some research on it
Zaylee: Huh, what did you find
The Detective: It’s a load of horseshit, although sometimes it glowed with a bright blue color
Juni: Really…
Nest: That’s pretty interesting…
The Detective: Well I don’t feel like giving it back to the Board
He throws the token at Nest
Nest: Why give it to me?
The Detective: You love birds, think this token might have more meaning to me then it does you?
Nest: Ok…thanks
Zaylee: Ok so…hey wait a minute The Board wants that token?
The Detective: Tell them to stick their attitude where the sun don’t shine
Falconer: I feel like…we really need to get moving now….
Juni: Yeah….
Suddenly another knock is heard at the door
Neighborhood Watch Member: Hey, Neighborhood Watch here, open up!!
The Detective: Why?
Neighborhood Watch Member 2: We’ve recently seen signs of The Buzzard in this local area
The Detective: Fine
The Detective opens The Door and The Neighborhood Watch Member walks in
Falconer: Hey wait a minute-
Zaylee: Is that Nolan?
Nolan: Huh…what are you doing here
Juni: That’s frankly none of your concern
Neighborhood Watch Member: You know you don’t have a permit to be here, y-
Nolan: Cool it Edera, we’re old friends…
Juni: Hardly
Edera: Huh, did something happen
Nolan: It’s…a long story….