Splinterlands Fantasy Story and Music Contest - Week 24 + Qurator's Monday Missions entry!

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Not only the great team behind Splinterlands is keeping this great contest alive, @qurator decided to join in on the fun this week! If you don't know what I'm talking about, check you this week's Monday mission!
And today, a Splinterlands tale; hope you like it!

Mischiefs and Evil deeds

Some say it was the Wood Nymph’s fault in the first place.

Some say it was the brownies.

Nevertheless, what happened that night in Rothan, one of the few settlements near the Ancient Trees, could have taken a turn for the worst, if Nymphs and Brownies weren’t there.


In those days, celebration of the Haruk-Yhe (what is known today as Halloween) was in full bloom. The festivities lasted for two consecutive weeks, and although remembering the ones that were no longer among the living was the main goal, all kinds of tricks and mischiefs also played a part in the festivities.

Not that in that little village, it made a difference. It was like that everyday. Literally EVERYDAY. The Ancient Trees were home to wood nymphs and brownies… and it was hard to decide which one behaved the worse.

Probably the nymphs, thow.

Brownies were fast. Too fast. And curious. It was in their nature to roam through the village, and sometimes “borrow” a piece of cloth drying or a children’s toy, or pulling the tails of dogs and cats and jumping across the roofs laughing like crazy, at any hour of the day (and night!).

But the nymphs… the nymphs were clever. Way clever. They could be the gentlest creatures ever, soothening the injuries of the villagers with their healing abilities… while hiding a frog in the bed, or adding puking herbs to the food being cooked.

Well, it was the reality the villagers were already used to. But in that year’s Haruk-Yhe, the mischiefing was over the scale. From brownies running through the streets pretending to be rabid beasts, foaming from their mouths (after chewing some of the villager’s soaps) and terrifying the little children, to wood nymphs covered in tomato sauce that bursted into the houses flying and screaming “They’re coming! They’re coming!”, the villagers were going crazy.

Even when Andy the blacksmith came running from his house with peed trousers and wielding a battlehammer, decided to put an end to the evil creature a.k.a. a tomatosauce-zombie-nymph that scared the living hell out of him, the mischiefs didn’t slow down.

So when the Jeffersons, the mother and the two children, didn´t show up to their neighbour’s dinner, and didn’t answer the door, no one assumed anything but yet another prank.

Maybe the nymphs locked them in the basement, one of the neighbours said.

Maybe the brownies took all their clothes and they can’t come out, other one sugested.

After 2 hours of knocking at the door and searching the village, the patience was over. The village elder stopped one of the wooden fairies after yet another house invasion and demanded to know what had they done.

It wasn’t us, I swear! She said. The other nymphs that came to see what the growing croud was about, agreed. The brownies gathered too. Their talking abilities were scarce, but no, they were innocent, they signaled.

One of the brownies climbed up to the top windows, and seeing it was unlocked, entered. And until he squealed, the village elder kept menacing the nymphs and brownies with all sorts of punishments, while they kept swearing their innocence.

When the door opened from the inside and everyone saw the brownie, and the blood on the floor, for a moment the villagers still allowed themselves to believe that this was just a huge prank and the Jeffersons played along. But no, the brownie couldn’t fake how pale he was. And no, it wasn’t tomato sauce on the floor.


Apart from all the wasted time blaming pranks, the habitants of Rothan were extremely quick to react: organizing search parties, imagining possible scenarios, spreading the word on the whole village. The nymphs and brownies had vanished by then, not without saying first, we'll help.

And so they did. Wood nymphs and brownies are creatures of the woods, and they could move faster and pick up scents better than any human. Nymphs flew high in the air, and brownies jumped from tree to tree; none had any ideia why would a mother and her two children vanish in the night, but one thing they knew: time urged.

It was the tomatosauce-zombie-nymph that nearly scared to death the village's blacksmith that noticed the very faint glow far in the forest. And it was also the first one that got near enough to understand what was going on.

Two dark shadows were floating through the forest inches above the ground, one carrying the children, and one their mother.
They moved fast, but the nymph flew faster. She couldn't sneak up on them, thow; as if they felt her presence, the shadows stopped. And turned to face her.

The one carrying the mother dropped her. She seemed to have fainted, for there was no reaction when her body touched the ground. Two other nymphys had arrived back then, and one immediatly striked, only to have her energy burst redirected back at her.

The shadows were powerful. And when 3 other more nymphs arrived, the remaining shadows appeared as well. Six more of them. The one carrying the children placed them on the ground as well. They were now more interested in the nymphs. And true, they could fly, but that meant leaving the family to their fate. And that wasn't an option... although it was clear they were no match for those creatures.

So they fought. Bravely. And when their enemies were confident they would win...

A squeal.
Then another one.
And another.

The brownies were coming. First a couple, followed by three more. But in less than a minute, their battle cries were all around, as an entire band joined the fight.

Truth be told, the battle was hard, nevertheless. And a handfull of brownies and nymphs would never do another mischief after that night.

But when the villagers arrived, they found a horde of brownies, strange dark figures motionless on the ground, and mother and children already recovered, thanks to the nymph's healing powers.


Only when Lyanna, the summoner, visited the village the following week, they learned the true meaning of that night, and how the ancient prophecy of the evil spreading through the Splinterlands seemed to be a reality. And nymphs and brownies realised the days of mischiefs could soon come to an end.

Slowly, things returned to the normality. And yes... mischiefs still happenned from time to time in Rothan; after all, it's part of nymphs and brownie's nature. In the following year, during the Haruk-Yhe, things were calmer, way calmer.

But Andy the blacksmith still pissed his pants.

Twice.

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8 comments
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Woohoo!

You have been manually curated by the @steemmonsters team!

Enjoy your juicy upvote and keep creating excellent Splinterlands content!

Great story! It's true, both Brownies and Nymphs are quite mischievous.

😍@carrieallen

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Thank you for the support! The mini lore was exactly what gave me the motto for the tale, can't wait to read the whole story! ;)

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To listen to the audio version of this article click on the play image.

Brought to you by @tts. If you find it useful please consider upvoting this reply.

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(Edited)

Great job! :)
I was needing a village for the northeastern area of Anumun, which I am currently mapping in detail. Rotham will do nicely. In my mind, it's pronounced [Rot-ham], like a rotten ham. What do you think? But it is a risky place to settle, so close to the Thunder Plains and the Centauri Wood.

I love how Andy the Blacksmith is always peeing himself. Are you sure his name's not Kevin? :D

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Thank you for the feedback!

In my mind, it's pronounced [Rot-ham], like a rotten ham. What do you think?

Not as I imagined it at first, but actually like it better your way! :)

I love how Andy the Blacksmith is always peeing himself. Are you sure his name's not Kevin? :D

It is! Andy kevin the III :))) Poor Andy, blame it on the pesky nymphs!! 😂 😂

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