Posted on 2023-05-29 09:21:55
Score: 1 (vote Up)

(apparently I totally forgot to upload this here when I first got and posted it...WHOOPS!)



***



As they travelled through the jungle around Sumeru City, Svetta and Naz happened upon one of Sumeru's forest rangers, who appeared to be in a bit of a bind. She told the adventurers all about the strange incidents happening around Vimara village, of children disappearing into the jungle and then just sort of reappearing in town a few days later without the faintest memory of what had happened, very confused as to why all the grown-ups were so worried about them.
The ranger had taken it upon herself to investigate the jungle surrounding the village, and the pair of heroes were eager to lend her a helping hand.
Having a professional forest ranger in their adventuring party sure did make exploring Sumeru a whole bunch easier...Daisy's regular jobs involved patrolling the woods, making sure that all the main roads and paths were properly maintained, collecting herbs and flowers to make medicines, and hunting wild animals who threatened to roam too close to the village, so she knew the area around Vimara like the back of her hand! No more stumbling blindly through the underbrush, tripping over monstrous roots and tumbling haplessly into caves infested with mind-controlling mushrooms anymore, with an expert guide getting around Sumeru was going to be a cinch!
They adventured deep into the jungle, and set up camp for the night...and...huh...they must've trekked further than anyone had realised, because all of a sudden the three of them were so...very...tired...
Naz was out like a light, and Daisy nodded off not long after her. Svetta barely registered a soft, sleepy little tune drifting through the night before she, too, found herself becoming far too drowsy to keep her eyes open...
...
...the next thing any of them knew, they were on their feet. Svetta woke with a little snort, quickly shaking the still-snoozing Naz from her sleepified stupor, while Daisy sheepishly wiped the drool from her chin. How embarrassing, for the two travelling heroes to have dozed off in front of their new friend, and for their cool, experienced local expert to have conked out on them like that...and...huh...when did they walk all the way back to Vimara village..?

The myths and legends of Sumeru spoke of Aranara, helpful little forest spirits, familiars of the Dendro Archon and God of Dreams. Their music and songs had the power to put humans into a sort of trance state, fast asleep with their minds spirited away to the land of dreams...no human would ever remember an encounter with an Aranara, and most adults dismissed them as nothing more than children's fairytales and imaginary friends...but that didn't stop the fairies from doing their best to help the people of Sumeru.
Like, for example, having lost wanderers sleepwalk their way back to the safety of their homes without being any the wiser to the dangers they'd almost strayed into...