A young man named Ezra, about 5’10” slowly clambered over a sandy hill. From atop the hill, he could see a small pond and palm trees rising from near the waterline. A respite from his travel through the hot desert. He began to slowly descend down the opposite side of the hill toward the water, his worn leather boots leaving prints in the loose sand and a dusty book clutched in his right hand. As he got to the firmer sand near the water, he bent over forward and knocked the dust from his brown, cloth pants. Kneeling down onto one knee beside the water, Ezra set the dusty book down on the ground and reached down to scoop some water with both hands, throwing it toward his face. The water splashed his face and droplets of water fell onto his plain white tunic, the sleeves of which had been rolled up to his elbows. The single splash of water was not enough to tame the dusty mess of brown hair upon his head. Ezra was unarmored, but had his dagger affixed to his side by his leather belt.



Refreshed by the oasis, Ezra collected his book and stood again while looking out past the pond. There in the distance he could see what he was sent out to investigate. There was a large ring of baby blue flowers just beyond the pond he stood at. Ezra raised the book in his hands so he could see the cover: Herbology: A Guide to Flowers and Plants. A grin stretched across his face and he began to think how easy this task might be after his purchase of this book.



Ezra began to walk toward the large ring of flowers. As he did so, he could hear the crashing of waves as if he were standing on a jetty on the coast of the Crescent Isles again. “Weird” he thought as he looked back at the pond he had just left from. “There’s no way that sound is coming from that tiny pond…” Ezra shook his head back and forth as if to try and shake the sound from his ears, but it remained. A look of confusion flashed across his face before he shrugged and continued forward toward the ring of flowers.



Once he reached the outside of the ring, Ezra knelt down to inspect the flowers. To him, they looked like ordinary flowers. They were growing in the desert, but other than that, they were completely ordinary baby blue flowers. He opened his Herbology book and began to flip through the pages. With each page turned he would look at the description in the book and then up to the flowers present, comparing the descriptions.

---

Quest Name: Ring of Flowers

Participants: Exactly Two

Location: One of the listed locations below

Post Requirements: 6 posts per person, 200 words per post

Reward: +2 Renown, 1 Mystical Archive Ticket

Description: Strange things are occurring around these newly formed flower circles and help is needed in understanding why. Unfortunately, as one of the first groups of people to explore these phenomena, we are unaware of any specific strange or weird side effects interacting with these rings may bring, so be careful. Study the flowers, record what you see, hear, or even feel.



Special Requirements:

Your investigations will reveal that these circles are not native to Charon and are coming from some other realm. They are Fae in nature and give off similar magical traces as the Fae creatures that currently live on Charon, although much stronger and more potent.



Upon arriving at the location, you will find that strange things have begun to happen, not only to the environment but to you as well, with prolonged exposure to the circle increasing the effects. Before you begin the quest, you must choose one of the locations listed below to explore, with a specific obstacle attached based on the region. These added effects cannot be ignored and must be applied to your characters during the quest.



This Quest can be completed multiple times per character or per member, but participants can only receive the renown reward once per character and the Mystical Archive reward once per player.

Few things in the world are as dangerous as a curious scholar standing touching something they really shouldn't, and Tatalia was the very definition of a curious scholar.

The little goblin adventurer stood atop a sand dune near the Oasis, glad to stop for a rest after her last adventure. She wasn't a very imposing figure at all - she was "three and a half feet small" as one of the tavern patrons back in the Lilicors Village liked to joke - and she wasn't exactly kitted out like some elite warrior. Yes, she was an experienced dungeon delver, but she wore no armor and instead just had a collection of various potions, pouches, tools, gadgets, and so on and so forth. She did, at least, have her trusty sword and dagger, but so did any adventurer worth their salt. Really, she looked more like a wandering merchant than she did a fighter.

Still, somehow Tatalia the Goblin, self-titled explorer extraordinaire, had found her way into the middle of the desert and had worked up an incredible thirst. The water at the Oasis was looking awfully tantalizing!

Tatalia slid down the side of the dune with practiced agility, hopped at the end and landed on the grass at the edge of the Oasis. She hummed to herself as she strode forward... insofar as someone of her diminutive height had a 'stride,' anyway. The goblin reached the shore, splashed her face, drank some water, refilled her canteen, and all-in-all was having a grand old time.

It was just as Tatalia was about to sit down that she noticed there were tracks in the ground. She paused, inspecting them briefly.^1,2

"One humanoid," the goblin mused as she stepped over to the tracks and crouched down beside them. "Low depth; traveling light. Probably... around six feet tall? Stopped by the water as well! Naturally, naturally..."

Tatalia reached down and pinched some of the sand. It felt wet between her fingers. 

"Oh, this is recent," the goblin mused, rubbing her hands together. "Must still be here! I wonder what sort of person they are...?"

And so the scholar-adventurer stood up and peered toward the path the tracks left leading away from the water. The greenery appeared particularly lush in that direction. The black haired goblin didn't remember the Oasis being quite that verdant... Intrigue mounted in her mind, and she eagerly slipped her goggles down over her eyes. The siren song of discovery was calling to her yet again!

Making nary a sound,³ the overeager explorer darted along the path after the owner of those tracks. They clearly had witnessed the same curiosity she had and had the same drive to investigate! Perhaps they were of a similarly inquisitive mind? A potential fellow connoisseur of mystery? Oh, goodness, it was like making two discoveries in the same day!

I need to make an entrance, Tatalia reminded herself, her thoughts brimming with excitement. Let's see, let's see... I did sparkles for my last introduction. Maybe... Ah, I know!

The goblin put her plan together at about the same time she saw the source of excitement. It was a strange ring of flowers and fungi around which the sands seemed to recede. It was almost like someone had injected the earth with life. That... that was definitely unusual.

And then, of course, there was a man standing nearby, looking between a book and the flora with obvious curiosity. He was roughly her age, maybe a little younger, with blond hair and a pretty good height. He didn't seem to have much on him besides the book and a sheathed dagger at his hip. Honestly, it was exciting to find someone that was able to make a journey so lightly equipped! It wasn't so different from her first adventure.

How had Cantio put it? Tatalia asked herself. Bravado, a Violin, and a Knife? The sum total of our adventuring kit! Stars above, t'was such a long time ago!

But it was no time for nostalgia! The goblin shook her head and focused on the task at hand. She crept quietly up to the tree nearest the man, climbed on up with perfect ease⁴, and made virtually no sound as she did so. Slowly, she made her way onto a tree limb up above him, and then...

"Good morning!" she called from high up above, grinning down at the human with rows of sharp teeth. "I don't suppose you're taking notes on the plant growth as well? A good researcher should always document their work!"

The little woman was standing casually on the branch, one leg tucked behind the other as she leaned against the tree. Her hair, her sash, and her head scarf all danced dramatically in an imaginary wind - the work of a little minor magical cantrip, of course.⁵

"Allow me to introduce myself! My name is Tatalia!" the goblin declared proudly, bowing with finesse that would have sooner been expected in a noble court than in the wilderness, and certainly seemed jarring when performed by a goblin of all creatures. "I'm a scholar, historian, and explorer extraordinaire! Consider me humbly at your service."

Well, she was a little bit of a showboat to be "humble" about anything, but Tatalia really did mean to offer her help! She loved research!

---

_{1. Investigation Kit; 2. Tracker Extraordinaire; 3. Silent Step; 4. Surface Scaling; 5. Minor Trickery}

Ezra was lost in thought, staring at the book in his hands, then back up to the flowers on the ground. He had flipped through nearly the entire thing, but had yet to find a good match for this particular flower. 

"I don't-" He was interrupted before he could even finish the though by the startling shout of someone above him. 

"Good morning!" The shout caused Ezra's head to jolt upward, scanning the top of the tree nearby for the individual who had made the exclamation. The first thing that caught Ezra's attention were the rows of razor-sharp teeth grinning back at him. It was a sign he was not used to seeing and sent him reeling backward onto his butt in the sand while letting out an exacerbated, "Wha!"

"I don't suppose you're taking notes on the plant growth as well? A good researcher should always document their work!"


As Ezra slowly regained his composure, he was able to take in the entire picture now. This was a little goblin woman in the tree. Her clothes were waving in the wind... except that there was none. Yet somehow her hair and her scarf danced majestically as if this goblin were atop a mountain where the wind constantly blows. As the little goblin stood there grinning, leaning against the tree, her sash, scarf, and hair waving, she almost looked... heroic? 


Ezra shook the thought from his head as dust flung from atop his messy hair. He listened as the goblin introduced herself. Collecting himself, Ezra stood from the dirt, leaving his book on the ground. Using both of his hands he brushed the dust from his pants. "Uh," He started, "Good to meet you Tatalia. I'm Ezra." 

He couldn't help but think about how wild it was to have a friendly-seeming goblin standing above him in a tree. He grinned at the thought, but quickly returned to the present and repeated, "Scholar, Historian, AND Explorer? That's impressive. I'm simply a curious adventurer. I was asked to come out here to examine these flowers. Apparently there's something strange about them. I wasn't taking notes on them," Ezra reached down and retrieved the book at his feet, "I was trying to identify them using this book." He showed the cover of the book upward to Tatalia, which read Herbology: A Guide to Flowers and Plants. "I just can't seem to find these flowers in this book anywhere." Ezra continued before adding, "Do you know anything of flowers?"

"Oh! I do indeed know a few things about flowers!" replied the goblin, her grin broadening.

The little green woman crouched and hopped down from the branch, her feet landing softly on the verdant grass surrounding the oasis. Her yellow eyes glowed in the shadows briefly, but then she lifted her head and they were back to normal.

"Well, Ezra, your book is certainly a worthy specimen if you're relatively new to herblore," the goblin mused, stepping forward as she inspected the title Herbology: A Guide to Flowers and Plants. Nevertheless, she set loosened her backpack off her shoulder and let it slide to the ground, and she stooped down to dig inside. "I think you'll find, however, that its focus is on the more common varieties of plants and generals dos and don'ts. You need to refer to an author whose work has a bit more specificity, such as..."

All at once, Tatalia yanked out thick, heavy tome with a dark green binding. The title was obscured by her hand, but the name of the author was plain as day: Kwandrix.

"Kwandrix! One of the best authors on the subject of botany to have ever put his pen to paper," Tatalia declared, grinning widely as she cracked the book open. "Personally, I think Sir Valanius was the better herbalist despite how awful he was at his actual profession of warfare, but Kwandrix is able to present his information in a more precise, concise, and understandable manner. And he favors illustration over pontification, which is much preferred in situations such as this..."

Tatalia flipped through the book rapidly, peering down now and then at the strange circle of flowers. As she searched for an image of them inside the text. Honestly, she wasn't an herbalist herself, not much of one anyway. But... she'd read the works of Sir Valanius, Kwandrix, and others dozens of times over. So, why wasn't she recognizing the flowers in front of her?

Tatalia was so engrossed in her hunt for the information she sought that she didn't notice when the flowers began to shimmer and hum. The wind picked up around them, making them twist and twirl all around, and still Tatalia didn't realize what was happening. Finally, though, she'd had her answer!

"Oh! That's why I wasn't able to find these flowers!" Tatalia answered with a laugh, holding the book out to show Ezra. "Somehow, they were mistakenly listed as extinc-"

Suddenly, the flowers in the circle flashed with a brilliant light, and then Tatalia found herself leaning against the tree once again. She flailed in confusion, then fell to the ground face-first with a SLAM!

There was a long and uncomfortable pause that followed. Tatalia, dazed from her fall, rolled over onto her back. She noticed, though, that the act left her a little elevated in terms of height, almost as if she was still wearing her...

"My backpack?" Tatalia mused aloud, blinking a few times. "Didn't I take that off?"

Frowning, the goblin looked over to see if Ezra was still there. What was happening?

As Tatalia explained to him about the difference between his book and the one she had, written by Kwandrix, Ezra couldn't help but think how well spoken and seemingly well educated this goblin was. Her demeanor was friendly, her clothes were whole and kempt, and she carried around books in her backpack. This was not at all like the goblins Ezra had read about back home. Those goblins were savages. Angry and vile creatures of evil that attacked young travelers on the road. Could they have been mistaken?

As Tatalia began to flip through he pages of her own book, Ezra scooted beside her so that he could look over her shoulder and at the pages of the book as well. He became lost in comparison again, glancing from the page of the book and back up to the flower. He became nearly entranced by the flipping of pages and the flowers depicted on each page. Their vibrant colors flashing up at him. The various written descriptions and alchemical details poured over his mind.

Through the haze of words and pictures, he forgot that he was standing next to Tatalia. In fact... he suddenly felt the soft leather of a bound book in his hand. The pages he was gazing at seemed familiar. Had he read this book before? The page turned, but it wasn't Tatalia who turned it. Who? Ezra suddenly realized all at once that he was looking at the pages of his own Herbology book again. He was kneeling by the ring of flowers, holding his own book in his own hands, turning the pages himself. Just as he began to wonder how this had happened he heard the crash of something hitting the ground beside him.

He looked and saw that it was Tatalia that had made the crashing sound, and she was now laying on her back on top of her backpack. 

"Tatalia!" Ezra shouted in concern.

"My backpack? Didn't I take that off?"


"You did..." Ezra replied in a confused tone. A look of concern washed over his face and he extended a hand downward to help the goblin to her feet. 

"What was that?" Ezra asked in the same tone of confusion, "Weren't we looking at your book just then? How did you end up on the ground?"

Ezra turned his attention slowly to the flowers on the ground. He could have swore they were shimmering a second ago... He had heard there were strange occurrences near these flowers. Could this have been one?

"Why... yes! We were just looking at the book together. Curious, isn't it?" mused the goblin as she accepted Ezra's hand and let the man pull her up. The goblin brushed herself off, shook her wild haired head, and peered over toward the ring of flowers.

"Alright. Let's think about this logically," she decided, reaching into her backpack to pull out her journal, an inkwell, and a quill pen. "Now, clearly there's some sort of teleportation magic at play here based on the evidence in front of us. The best thing we can do is document what we've seen in detail, the better to discover the patterns at play here!"

And Tatalia was making good work at doing just that, too! She'd started recording what she'd seen into her journal, making clear record of exactly what happened just before her translocation had occurred when suddenly-

FLASH! It happened again. Tatalia reappeared in the tree with her backpack on once again, and she fell down toward the ground, flailing wildly as she struck the ground face first yet again.

A weary sigh escaped the goblin's lips. She shoved herself up to a kneeling position and peered over at the young man with only a dagger on his person.

"You're... not some sort of wizard, are you?" she asked tentatively. "This isn't your doing? Goodness, but I think I'm getting dizzy from all this..."

Grumbling, the distraught scholar-explorer dug inside her backpack, pulling her journal out. She cracked it open, and...

"Oh. My work is gone!" she noted with a tone of frustration. Irritably, she blew her hair out of her face, then glanced over to Ezra again. "That's just lovely, isn't it? Here I am under the thrall of some wild enchantment and I can't even be allowed the pleasure of documenting the event as it occurs!"

Tatalia sighed. And then, oh, she sighed again. That made three times in a relatively short span of time. The goblin pinched her brow, then stood up on her own, brushing herself off in an indignant fashion before looking over to Ezra again.

"I... sincerely apologize for my behavior. I, ah, I normally am not in quite so annoying a circumstance!" the embarrassed goblin commented with a laugh, brushing her now thoroughly dirty hair out of her face with a dismissive hand. "Normally, adventure tends to involve more swashbuckling and derring-do than it does falling out of trees!"

Ezra brought his hand up to his chin in thought while Tatalia wrote about the first incident in her journal. "Good thinking to document what's happening." He thought to himself, "Maybe we can identify a pattern."

While Tatalia wrote in her journal, Ezra looked off into the distance at the flowers. They were situated in a large circle. He's estimate at least twelve people or so would comfortably fit within it. His curious gaze moved from out into the distance, down to the flowers near his feet. Still light blue in color, though they must be an extremely rare or unusual flower being that they were not in either of the books the two adventurers had brought. 

"Strange..." Ezra thought. Just as the thought floated into his mind, it seemed that the angle he was viewing the flowers from suddenly changed. He felt his knee upon the soft dirt again, and the familiar feeling of bound leather in his hand. He looked down to see that he was holding his Herbology book yet again while knelt down next to the ring of flowers. 

CRASH!

Ezra looked over to where Tatalia had fallen twice now and saw that she was laying there again on top of her backpack. He watched as she retrieved her journal from her backpack and her notes were gone. Ezra stood again, still holding onto his book.

"I'm no wizard. If I was, I might even be more help..." Ezra said a little dejectedly, "And there's no need to apologize to me. I'm not anyone of importance anyway and I understand the frustration."

Ezra scratched his head in thought. He could feel the dusty grains of sand stuck to his hair and his fingers ran back and forth through it. "What is going on?.." Ezra repeated out loud as he looked off again to the center of the circle. He couldn't help the feeling that there may be something more inside of the circle. He looked back toward Tatalia and explained, "I'm going to run into the center. Maybe there's something there. Or... maybe getting distance between us will stop... whatever's happening from happening. Or... I don't know, maybe I'll feel better if I just run." A nervous grin stretched across his face as he uttered the last statement. 

His focus turned back to the center of the circle. He dropped his Herbology book in the sand and took off at a full sprint toward the center of the circle. The ground was much more firm here compared to the dunes he had traveled through on the way to the oasis. His worn leather boots making a soft pat sound on the sand as he ran. His gaze was fixed ahead of him and he did not look to either side. He continued to run, nearing the center of the flower circle. Running, running...

He should have been to the center by now, what happened? As he turned to look behind him to see how far he had traveled, he was only feet from where he had started. How was that possible? "Did... Did we teleport again? But not back outside the flowers this time, just back to where I started running?"

"There's no need to apologize to me. I'm not anyone of importance anyway..."

"I do beg your pardon?" Tatalia, previously upset with herself and the situation, actually stopped what she was doing to regard the other adventurer seriously. His words had really caught her off-guard! He didn't say it morosely, or in a grumble; it was almost like an apology for his existence! Like- like...

Tatalia decided she did not what to consider what that reminded her of and instead focused on ways to remedy that.

"Look, Mr. Ezra, I... think that was a rather self deprecating statement if I ever heard on! Don't you?" she began, turning away for just a moment. "And you came here equipped with naught but a dagger to your name. I daresay you're in need of a-"

But then the young man said he was going to just run towards the middle of the circle. Tatalia sputtered, trying to say something else, wondering what brazen self sacrificial thoughts possessed him to think that charging the magic circle was a good idea... and then, suddenly, it was like a light lit up inside her brain, and she snapped her fingers.

"EUREUKA!" the goblin cried as time reset itself for the third time in a row. This time, she didn't fall out of a tree, which was a refreshing change of pace.

"You have the right idea! The circle! The circle is the key!" the goblin insisted excitedly, snapping both her hands at once several times in a row. "Circles, magic circles- geometry! There are certain kinds of symbols that can act as a natural conduit for magical energies! The circle is by far the most common of these, and in fact is sometimes used to channel powers from other worlds... like the faerie world! The Realm of Wonder!"

To say that the goblin was caught in the throes of triumph was an understatement. She leapt into the air and pumped her fist, and upon landing clapped her hands together.

"Right! Stand back, you brilliant fellow! I think it's time we broke this magic circle!"

And with that, the goblin channeled some magical energy, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. The air around her grew darker for a moment, as if she was sucking the shadows into her hand, and violet lightning began to crackle around her. She opened her eyes, now stark black, and pointed two fingers at the circle of flowers. And then...

_Kkz^zz_hO^OOM!

Brilliantly hued lightning arced out from the tips of Tatalia's fingers, striking the flowers ahead of her with highly charged necrotic energy.¹ The lightning cracked against some of those vibrant flowers, igniting and withering them. But there was a magical backlash, and it seemed Tatalia's magic had struck some sort of unseen field of energy which was sending lightning twisting back and forth!

"AH! To be expected!" the goblin shouted over the crackling din as the air grew electric and the sky grew dark. "But don't worry! If I'm correct, when we get reset, th-"

Tatalia didn't have time to finish, because time went wonky again, and the pair reset once more... this time just before the goblin tried shooting the flowers with her lightning.

But some of the flowers were still destroyed!

"Quickly! We have to finish breaking the circle!" Tatalia insisted, grinning with wild delight at Ezra. "The sooner we do, the quicker this madness will end!"

---

_{1. Chaos Bolt}

Ezra stood in place about four feet inside of the circle, right where the last reset had put him. He turned and listened as Tatalia explained to him the importance of circles and magical energies and then watched as she blasted some of the flowers with a bolt of energy from her fingers.

As the lighting energy leapt from Tatalia's fingers and then backlashed from the flowers, Ezra couldn't help but think how powerful this goblin must be. She had displayed her stealth skills upon their initial meeting, he hadn't even heard a step when she climbed the tree. She clearly was intelligent and well traveled based on the way she spoke and the items in her pack. Now she displayed a knowledge of magic as well. This must be what an adventurer is supposed to be. Smart, quick, versatile; ready for any unexpected surprise the world may throw at them. This little goblin is someone to emulate, thought Ezra. After all; adventuring, helping people: these are the first steps to becoming a great Knight. 

He was so lost in thought, he didn't even have a chance to move or react before right before his eyes, the scene reset again. Tatalia still had two fingers pointed toward the flowers, but it looked as though the charge had not yet been fired. Yet even after this reset, the damage to the flowers was still there. This revelation filled Ezra with excitement and a smile quickly appeared on his face. 


"Quickly! We have to finish breaking the circle!" Ezra caught a glimpse of the grin on Tatalia's face as she spoke and it further reassured Ezra that they were both on the same page and that they were close to solving this mystery, "The sooner we do, the quicker this madness will end!"

"You're right!" Ezra exclaimed as he bolted for the edge of the circle. "I'm on it!"

Ezra dropped down onto his butt, the momentum from his run propelling him on the ground as he slid directly into the circle of flowers. Popping up to a knee at the end of his slide, Ezra found himself directly on top of the flowers. He reached down with him empty hands and began plucking fistfuls of flowers out of the ground and tossing them to either side of where they grew. 

Just as he was getting into a rhythm, he found himself back in his running stance about four feet from the edge of the circle. He looked back to where he had slid before and the piles of flowers were still laying on either side, plucked from the ground. He, again, ran to the same location, but as he approached the edge of the ring of flowers time reset him back to his starting point, four feet from the edge again. Standing still, he looked up to Tatalia and exclaimed, "Tatalia! The resets are getting more frequent. I think... I think they're trying to stop us!"

Ezra looked to the burned and plucked flowers and then back over to Tatalia and asked, "Do you have anything more powerful? Something that can wipe out a lot of these flowers in one swoop?"

"Do you have anything more powerful? Something that can wipe out a lot of these flowers in one swoop?"

"Naturally!" replied the goblin with a crooked grin as she reached for a pouch at her belt.

Truthfully, Tatalia wasn't that powerful of a mage. She knew a little magic, but she didn't know too many spells, and most of the spells she knew were more general in nature, more utilitarian rather than meant for raw, destructive power. There was no chance that the young scholar would ever be some mighty witch raining fire down upon her foes. No, Tatalia had to think her way out of problems. It was what she was best at.

And so Tatalia threw a rather ordinary looking pouch toward the circle. Its contents were a little less than ordinary, however. Inside was a small stash of explosive gunpowder, enough to make several small bombs with.¹ If all of exploded at once, though...!

"Stand back!" Tatalia warned as she channeled her magic once again.

The same black energy from before crackled up Tatalia's arm and at her fingertips.² But the goblin adventurer manipulated the energies using the technique she had been taught by her magical mentor. The lightning began to change color from violet to red, and when she opened her eyes, they were blazing like the sun.³

Red lightning shot out, striking the bag of gunpowder. It ignited instantly... and exploded with such fury that the concussive blast was enough to knock Tatalia off her own feet!

Tatalia breathed in and out, in and out as she recovered her senses. She was on the ground, yes... but time stopped turning. Everything had gone back to normal. With a quick glance toward the ring of flowers, Tatalia realized she had finally destroyed the circle once and for all.

"Stars above!" wheezed the goblin as she sat up, wiping soot from her face. "I thought the Oasis was supposed to leave you clean and refreshed. It would appear that particular promise was naught but false advertisement."

Laughing, Tatalia stood up and strode over toward Ezra, eagerly shoving one of her hands toward him.

"It was a pleasure working with you, Mr. Ezra! I'll admit, I had hoped to document the flowers rather than destroy them, but when needs must... Anyway! Would you be so kind as to tell me where you're traveling next?"

---

_{1. Crude Gunpowder (Improvisation Equipment); 2. Chaos Bolt; 3. Elemental Master}

Ezra watched from his position, still four feet inside of the circle of flowers as Tatalia threw a pouch into the circle. Expecting some massive fireball or a meteor shower, Ezra wondered how this small pouch could help until he heard Tatalia’s voice ring out in warning, “Stand back!”

Still unsure of what; exactly, was happening, Ezra looked over toward Tatalia and saw the magical energy being charged into her arm and fingers. Putting the puzzle pieces together, Ezra began to sprint out of the circle and toward Tatalia. As he passed the spot where she was standing, he saw the white-hot glow of her eyes and the sparks turn from the purple they had been earlier, into a fiery red.

He didn’t stop.

Ezra continued to run past Tatalia, but he heard the explosion behind him. The sound rang in his ears and he could feel the heat of the fire on his back. Suddenly his feet were swept from under him and he was propelled forward, landing face down in the sand. It felt as if a giant shoved him to the ground, there was nothing he could do to resist it. Then all at once the force was done.

Pushing himself up and rolling into a seated position, Ezra was able to see the burning embers of what remained of the ring of flowers. The blackened charred ground in the middle of the circle led all the way to the smoldering ring of burnt flowers. The concussion from the blast left a neat ring of sand around the entire thing. Tiny embers of flaming flower petals still fell from the sky like red hot snowflakes. Ezra couldn’t help but think it looked somewhat beautiful in a way. A grin shown on his face that eventually turned to laughter as he shared in the joke that Tatalia made.

Ezra rose to his feet and accepted Tatalia's outstretched hand, giving it a firm shake.

"Anyway! Would you be so kind as to tell me where you're traveling next?"
 
There was an awkward moment of silence as the smile slowly faded from Ezra's face and his eyes looked from left to right around him. After the moment passed, the smile returned to Ezra's face as he said lightheartedly, "I thought for sure we would reset again." He let out a chuckle.

"I had planned on returning to my mother's house in Starlight City. That's where I left my armor. She was afraid I'd overhead in the desert, so she told me to leave it there." A sudden rush of embarrassment washed over Ezra as he realized he was explaining to a near stranger that his mother still gives him adventuring advice. He raised a hand to scratch the back of his head gingerly as he deliberately broke eye contact with the little goblin. 
"I... Um, I mean she's my mother. So... of course she cares if I overheat or not..." That... did not improve the situation. But it was what it was. He cared for his mother and she cared for him in turn. 
Ezra regained his composure and continued, "After that, I thought I might accept another quest or maybe I'd run into someone on the road that may need my help. What about you? You're an amazing adventurer. You have spells and skills, know-how and wisdom..." There was an admiration in Ezra's tone and an excited smile on his face as he continued, "You're incredibly smart, and you were ready for anything. We would have never made it out of that mess without you. What are you plans from here?" 

Tatalia was a great many things: an adventurer, a thief, a bookworm, a tracker, a troublemaker... But for all her good qualities, she was someone who was easily affected by flattery.

"Oh! Amazing?" the goblin repeated, grinning from ear to ear. "Wise? Smart?"

Truthfully, Tatalia didn't receive such intense praise very often, so those awed words went straight to the small adventurer's head. The goblin puffed her chest out, put one hand over it, and set the other against her hip in a proud stance.

"I suppose I am quite the formidable adventurer!" the goblin replied, sharp teeth shining beneath the desert sun. She closed her eyes and declared, "But that's just what comes of being so well traveled and experienced! In time, you'll be my equal, no doubt! You just need the will to push forward!"

Tatalia paused. No, that... wasn't quite honest. It took more than just the will to push forward, and she wasn't quite sure why she was even speech giving in the first place. Slowly, she began to feel very awkward, and she cracked an eye open to peek at Ezra. She moved her hand from her chest to her mouth, cleared her throat, and took a more relaxed posture.

"Truthfully, what every adventurer needs is versatility," Tatalia began reaching for the cord of rope on her belt. "And that means having the right tools for the job. I can tell you're fairly new to this work, so I'd like you to have this! You should never leave home without a good coil of rope! Unless you're me. I have a fantastic rope substitute. So... this is for you!"

The goblin held her rope out to Ezra, flashing that grin at him once more.¹

"Anyway, you'll have to go through King's Valley and the Marsh Flats to get back home to Starlight City in the Crescent Isles. Why don't you come with me? I'm on my way to Lilicors Village, so I could take you that far, at least! And I could use a traveling companion. It's a win-win!"

Really, Tatalia didn't need a traveling companion. She'd traveled a great distance on her own, and in fact generally made faster progress when she wasn't leading others through the treacherous paths she often walked. But... Tatalia couldn't help but enjoy having some company now and then, and the young human definitely seemed like he could use a little guidance. And if the self-proclaimed scholar was being honest, she really enjoyed the confidence boost from being complimented about her adventuring abilities. And... perhaps it was an opportunity to pass some of her knowledge along?

"And who knows!" the goblin added idly, her eyebrow bouncing up to lofty heights as she turned toward the west. "Perhaps we'll find one of those quests you're after along the way! Ooo, maybe I could teach you a couple magical cantrips! Or maybe we can find a sword for you!"

---

1. Gifting Rope to Ezra. Will make a transaction thread if accepted!

Ezra listened, still grinning at the progress the two had made with the ring of flowers as Tatalia spoke, until she eventually offered him the coil of rope. Ezra accepted it and gave a respectful bow of his head in thanks. “That is extremely nice of you. Thank you.” Ezra said in acceptance of her gift. He knew that she was right; and that versatility would be immensely important during his time adventuring and during his journey to Knighthood. He felt truly grateful for her gift to him and knew that this would be of use to him.



"Anyway, you'll have to go through King's Valley and the Marsh Flats to get back home to Starlight City in the Crescent Isles. Why don't you come with me? I'm on my way to Lilicors Village, so I could take you that far, at least! And I could use a traveling companion. It's a win-win!"



“Oh, I’d like that very much!” Ezra exclaimed in excitement at the proposition of the two continuing to travel together. He felt as though he had been smiling for too long now, but it continued to beam on his face at the thought of having a traveling partner; no matter how short-lived it may or may not be.



"And who knows! Perhaps we'll find one of those quests you're after along the way! Ooo, maybe I could teach you a couple magical cantrips! Or maybe we can find a sword for you!"



More excitement filled him at the possibilities. To be able to travel with such a versatile and powerful ally, and to potentially be able to learn from her along the way was a very welcome thought. The thought of being able to help people or take on another quest with a partner was equally welcome.



“I think that’s a great idea Tatalia. Thank you for letting me come along. Even if it’s just to Lilicors Village…. Is that where you’re from?” He asked inquisitively; trying to strike up conversation while stepping off toward the desert, awaiting Tatalia to lead him onward.

"Well, it wasn't where I was born or anything like that! But it is the place I call home now," Tatalia replied, gathering her things as she spoke. "You probably wouldn't know much about it, being from the Moon Glade, but Lilicors Village is very much a place where, ah, outcasts and people forced to live on society's fringes tend to end up. It's a good place to be a free thinker, though there's a certain lack of higher education to be found!"

The goblin cracked a grin across at Ezra as she secured her backpack properly into place and made sure everything on her person was in order. Really, she hadn't used very many materials while at the Oasis, but the green skinned scholar was used to checking everything thoroughly. And besides, she needed to set a good example for the fresh new adventurer!

"Anyway," Tatalia continued cheerily, turning back toward the great desert, "I think it's about time we headed off, don't you? I can hardly resist the siren song of adventure when it calls, and I'd wager you can't, either!"

With another toothy grin, the goblin started marching out into the desert, quietly glad she'd made her stop at the Oasis. Honestly, something about Ezra just seemed familiar, like she was looking into one of those funny mirrors that made you look bigger. And he had such eager, perhaps even innocent mannerisms and speech patterns. It just felt right that she met the human. And with such a nice, brisk breeze and a bright sun still hanging in the desert sky...

"It's going to be a good day," the goblin mused to herself.