Their parents are twin halflings are Wellby Tosscobble and Bree Woodwillow (Maiden name) who fell in love and in time moved to the big city refusing to work the general store in the Halfling village of Wyegrove. The tale of Me and Mi Tosscobble that were twin brother halflings born into a family, as babies they moved to the large city Wyemoor on the continent of Sothor, but before that is the story of their parents.
They didn’t have dreams of making a name for themselves, but to give a chance for their sons to have a better future of pursuing what ever dreams they have instead of living in a podunk village where your only option is following the same career their family chose to do long ago.
Bree had the dream to be a musician or perhaps a bard, but that wasn’t an option in their village so she being true to her dreams became a music teacher. This was particularly unheard of in the village that she lived in, but the other halflings shrugged it off to being an anomaly because of her lineage; her family had once been oddball adventurers. In Wyegrove it was most common for you to bare many children and the oldest would take over the business or more rarely one of the other children would take over. Some of the siblings would work together to make the family business prosper. The ones that didn’t fall into the business would marry into another family and work with them. This is just how it worked in that village. Bree Woodwillow’s family were independently wealthy living off the fortune they had amassed long ago when they were still adventurers. She had many curios still from a massive selection that had slowly been whittled down in their generations of free living.
The ones she still had were: A piece of crystal that faintly glows in the moonlight, several coins minted in an unknown land, a diary written in an unknown language, Teeth from an unknown beast, a pipe that blows bubbles, a tiny gnome crafted music box that plays a song, a small wooden statuette of a smug halfling, a shard of obsidian that always feels warm to the touch, a dragon’s bony talon hanging from a plain leather necklace, a blank book whose pages refuse to hold ink chalk graphite or any other substance or marking, a small, weightless stone block, an empty glass vial that smells of perfume when opened, an illusionary gemstone that looks like a lump of coal to anyone but the owner [passed on only when the owner(s) die], a mechanical canary inside a gnomish lamp, a dead sprite inside a clear glass bottle with a small “R” inscribed on it, a metal can that has no opening but sounds as if it is filled with spiders, a glass orb filled with water in which swims a clockwork goldfish, a candle that can’t be lit, a tiny cage with no door, an old key, a hilt from a broken sword, a pyramid of stick black incense that smells very bad, a nightcap when worn gives you pleasant dreams, a crystal knob from a door, an ornate scabbard that does curious things to short swords slid into it, an iron holy symbol devoted to an unknown god, a book that tells the story of a legendary hero’s rise and fall, with the last chapter missing, a vial of dragon blood, a black pirate flag adorned with a dragon’s skull and crossbones, a tiny clockwork spider that moves about when it’s not being observed, and a metal urn containing the ashes of a hero.
Wellby Tosscobble was the second son of the Tosscobles who owned and ran the general store the ABC or A Bountiful Cornucopia in Wyegrove. His older brother, Roscoe, was happy to accept the ownership of the store, but less in actually running the store. Wellby was duped into running the store on his own until Wellby began to enjoy it. When their father died Roscoe was in trouble as he didn’t really know how to run the store without Wellby’s assistance. The village learned of the shenanigans that were going down and it was expected that Wellby would take ownership of the ABC, but Wellby refused and instead assisted his brother Roscoe in learning and taking over the shop himself.
Wellby and Bree knew of each other but did not really have any time together unless Bree was purchasing something at the ABC or asking a question about the ABC which was admittedly rare. Bree had since a small(er) halfling been going off to a clearing outside of Wyegrove to practice various instruments she had purchased and self taught herself how to play. One day Wellby felt stir crazy feeling he could use a change went for a walk outside the village. As he was about to turn back towards the village he heard something, but couldn’t make out what it was. He followed the sound and he felt as a twig snapped under his foot abruptly the mysterious sound cut off and he couldn’t find it. He looked about for awhile but was unable to find it, and thought perhaps he imagined it and went to walk home when he saw a shift of leaves in front of him red hair shot out amongst the trees, or at least he thought so. But when he heard no sound so he figured it was all just his imagination.
Wellby lost his peace of stillness that was his life in Wyegrove. He started taking walks daily sometimes more than once daily tending to walk through the wooded area where he heard the mysterious sound. In the months to come he heard the sound again and again differing sound and pitch, but maintaining the same rhythm and tune. This tune had subtly invaded his mind, singing to him in his dreams, surging through him. He would hum it throughout the day (not even thinking about it.) While working at the ABC he became absent minded while tending to the store he hummed.
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Bree tapped him on the shoulder and asked him where he learned the tune. He was surprised, not really realizing he had been humming it. He was taken aback and stammered giving an incomplete answer and rushed to the backroom claiming to need to do something.
Two fold Wellby was shocked Wellby’s version of the hummed song was jovial and hopeful, whereas Brees was that of deep sadness.
Skip Ahead
When Bree’s uncle died he had no successors so the bar he owned in the large city of Wyemoor he passed along the deed that was granted to him property tax free. The building in her uncle’s time was a bar/tavern. It was transformed into a shop/house.
The start of the shop consisted of purchasing the less fine cheaper productions of other shops and honestly labelling where they were gotten sold at a slight profit along with the general store’s curios of Me and Mi’s mother’s heirlooms as curios to get people to step into the store. The shop included teaching students who wanted to learn various musical instruments and the vast assortment of wares and excellent service as well as directions and assistance.
The halfling parents feared for their children as nearly the only halfing children in a large city of people two to three times the size of them picking on them or treating them poorly.
Monk/Martial Arts Monastery that had a branch in the city found that once their master died they stopped having people appearing for the chance to train and learn of the teachings. The expensive property tax had them looking to make money to make enough to reside in the city. The monks/teachers sent out fliers to give lessons for a fee. Anyone would be welcome to try for one week without payment. This was to try to get more people interested in the monastery.
Bree and Wellby set aside money so that their sons could have weekly (karate) martial arts lessons. There was a magician that was really well known throughout the city as being rich and very powerful. The magician came time and time again to the shop looking to purchase all the curious for a lot of money but Wellby was always against it so that the boys would have their heirlooms and heritage. Two curios that the magician seemed most fascinated with; was the illusionary gemstone that looks like coal to those who don’t own it or have no magical power. The other was an ornate scabbard that had a strange capability if you put a short sword into the scabbard the hilt would fall and the blade would disappear.
Returning from karate practice the boys saw a cloaked figure, as they got closer they recognized the figure. They saw as the high Magician was leaning forward toward the halfing store/home and a massive pillar of fire erupted out of his hand and when the high magician recoiled from the fire the many curios were seen stowed under the cloak. The boys frightened for their parents rushed into the store/home and ran trying to get to their parents to save them from the fire that quickly engulfed the store/home. Me ran to the stairs and disappeared from view, Mi moved in and tried to extinguish the flames near the really dangerous flammable objects.
Me returns down with their mother, she’s coughing and very weak, she must have inhaled too much of the smoke. From in front of Me a large explosion erupts and he’s blasted back falling to the ground and ceases to move. Mi tries to rush over and save his brother but falling beams separate them. Mi stopping from extinguishing fires gets hit by a smaller explosion and in runs the high magician he comes in bows beside their mother Bree and picks up Me and runs out of the building. Mi stands and tries to get to his mother to save her to pull her out of the building but another explosion sends him into a cabinet that knocks over he is protected from the flames and the smoke.
Eight years old and Me is left with nothing. The savings were taken by corrupt officials saying he was fined, that that a promise to his ancestor only went so far. There was no one to take Me in so he ended up on the street. What little money he had left was swindled off of him. He found that all the curios were gone his parents asphyxiated in the fire, his brother’s body wasn’t found. He became an urchin fighting for survival. A couple weeks later he saw the magician in the possession of many of the curios showing off them to people. The High magician demonstrated how a coal that would not go abaze, that shimmered in the light to reveal to Mi a gemstone. He even saw the ornate scabbard on the High magician’s belt. This thief was showing off the spoils he wrongfully stole when he destroyed Mi’s family and life just weeks earlier. With this event Mi swore he’d get back his family’s heirlooms.
Mi went to the scoundrels and learned what he could from them, when he had made enough money he’d go to learn martial arts learning all he could desperately. He learned as many skills as he could from both the scoundrels and the monks; and received a test to find out if he had learned enough after three years. He felt he could always learn more, but there was word on how the High Magician was to go abroad soon and leave the city to work and research in some secret tower of magic magically hidden.
Mi had only under a week to get back what was rightfully his, but he chose to strike the night he heard the information on where his heirlooms were. He disguised himself and climbed to the roof of the building and entered the top window from the roof. After he made his way through disarming three traps he saw it one of his family’s heirlooms the ornate scabbard. Not trusting that he’d be so lucky as to find the scabbard on display with no lock for it specifically he took out a short sword and slid it into the scabbard to find the hilt fall and the blade disappear, knowing that this was definitely the correct scabbard the took it and stowed it away. He looked around for the rest of the heirlooms and found them in a case all displayed each with a tag.
He searched around the house and there was nothing, everything was gone and everyone. Mi had failed, he redoubled his efforts pursuing to learn all that he could from the monks following their teachings always returning to the streets until he grew enough to call himself an adult. The monks admitted then that they had no more to teach him, that he was only missing practical experience to get stronger. He left with his skills and experiences in hand and mind to pursue the High Magician and to get stronger to obtain his lost heirlooms. He tried to honor his parents in this way… He even did his best to learn the Dulcimer and traveled alone.