World Tree MUSH

    Word has gotten around that there's supposed to be a traitor to the kingdom of Baron hiding nearby in this forested area. There's a small cave within, so the rumor goes, that this traitor -- a rogue from Baron's Dark Knights -- is hiding out. And his albino chocobo has been seen in the area, too. Where the steed is, the rider cannot be far behind.

    In fact, someone has already headed off in search of reward and glory -- and possibly to bring this traitor to justice. A young adventurer, likely only recently in his teens, rushed off alone to hunt down the traitor. Clearly someone who has courage aplenty... perhaps they possess other heroic traits too...?

     Baron isn't any location in Demacia that Poppy has ever heard of, but then again some things can slip one's mind over the centuries. The more important thing is that she has heard of a young individual who may well be the Hero that she seeks, engaged in a quest to hunt down a traitor to the kingdom, some terrible Dark Knight who is apparently darker than the rest of them or... something. Anyway, traitor! Hero! Quest!

And so the three-foot-tall fae girl trudges through the forest, massive hammer slung awkwardly across her back, searching high and low for signs of this traitor. She's even tried asking the animals of the forest, but they treated her like a stranger, something she's certainly not used to!

"Jeez, who would have thought it would be so hard just to get some directions around here? It's almost like they don't even know what a yordle is..." she mumbles to herself, raising a hand to her brow and narrowing her eyes as she scans her surroundings once more. "But then again, this doesn't look like any part of Demacia I know. Did I get lost?"

Hopefully Poppy's ears are good, as the sounds of battle become clearer the closer she comes to that cave in the forest. Swords clash against each other, a young man cries out in effort as he wages war against something that makes dark, scary sounds emanate through the air. That's a real fight there, it sounds like.

Of course the cry of pain and dismay just before the battle sounds stop... that could be a good sign or a bad sign. The would-be hero might have fallen... or the dark knight might have fallen.

Just inside the cave, it becomes clear that it's the former. A large, muscular man clad in a suit of black, enameled armor, sporting a birdlike helmet, stands over a young man. There's a broken sword next to the young man, and it looks like he was hit from the front and collapsed onto his back.

     A yordle's ears are very good, in fact, better than a human's barring freak circumstances. The sounds of battle draw Poppy's attention from quite a distance, and she hurriedly runs to the cave... but far too late to intervene, as the young would-be hero has already been defeated! How can she tell the one standing is the Dark Knight? Because of his black armor, duh.

"Darn, he wasn't the Hero after all..." she says under her breath, but quickly covers it up by clearing her throat and running to the youth's side, checking him for injuries. "Hey, are you alright? I think this guy's way outta your league, buddy. If you can stand, then go home and leave this to me, okay? I've dealt with jerks like this before."

Surprisingly, the man in the armor steps back from the defeated young man, and there should be no barrier to Poppy getting to his side. In fact the Dark Knight offers, "...Is he badly injured? I have potions in my pack." Aside from the fact that his voice sounds like it comes from THE PITS OF HELL, that isn't something that an evil creature would say.

Fortunately the young man does not appear injured. Despite that the Dark Knight was using a sword -- one that he's still holding in his hand; it's a zweihander, though he's holding it like a longsword -- the young man doesn't appear to actually have been injured by it. The most clear injury is a goose egg on the top of his head where he was hit incredibly hard.

Incidentally, if Poppy's got a moment to look around, she might notice that this cave isn't some horrible monster-infested lair. There's a cozy campfire, a bedroll, and some other various camping apparatus set up here. This isn't something's evil lair. It's someone's campsite.

     Poppy does take note of both the injuries and the Dark Knight's demeanor, raising a curious eyebrow at him. "Wait, so you're... /not/ the evil monster traitor? Boy, that must be really unlucky then, being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Your armor really makes you look like a scary demon knight, you know. The voice doesn't help either."

As she talks, the diminutive girl- who, it should be noted, would appear to all in this area as a particularly short human or perhaps a native dwarf due to a magical glamour effect- rummages through the aforementioned pack and plucks out a red potion to give the young man. Red potions are always healing potions, right? Everyone knows that.

"Here ya go, drink this." she encourages the young man, uncorking the bottle and tipping its mouth toward his lips.

"For him, I am," the armored man replies. "Let him think that if he wishes. He will know better next time." At her words, his lips quirk into a smile -- the bottom half of his face is still visible, so his can be seen clearly. "'Tis not merely bad luck, I can assure you."

Whether he sees through her glamour or not, he doesn't make any effort to threaten or attack Poppy as she tends to the injured teen. He sheathes his sword at his side again, and keeps out of the way for now.

Fortunately the young man is able to drink the potion -- and yes, it was indeed a healing potion; he doesn't keep mana potions on-hand. The young man comes to with a groan. He tilts his head to look at her and blinks. "...Who...?" Then he looks around and sees the armored man. He's intent on getting to his feet then, even with a broken sword.

"...Go home," the Dark Knight replies. "Go back to your family. 'Tis too soon that they should lose their son..." The young man looks confused, gaze shifting between Poppy and the Dark Knight.

     The Dark Knight's words give Poppy pause, as well as cause her to pull a somewhat exaggerated look of perplexion. "Wait, so... you /are/ the traitor? You don't act like anything I imagined from how they described you."

As the young man awakens, she turns her attention to him with a reassuring smile. "He's right. You're in way over your head here. Let me handle this, alright? I have plenty of experience doing this kind of thing." she says, reaching back to pat the handle of her gigantic hammer.

"Things are not always what they seem," the Dark Knight replies. Though he focuses his gaze on the young man -- his eyes can't be seen through that helmet, but the parts of his face that can be seen are drawn into a serious expression. It's not hard to imagine murderous eyes behind that beaklike visor. And so the young man grabs his sword (what's left of it at this point) and runs from the cave quickly, stumbling a bit in his haste.

The Dark Knight sighs, and then crouches down next to his pack. "I can see that I will need to move again," he comments. "This place is known. It will not take long before others come to try where he failed." He starts getting his things back in order.

     "Yeah, the world can be complicated like that." Poppy says, internally wondering if her glamour is up currently. No reason to remove it if it is, though, especially since she's still not sure of this guy's intentions. Watching the young man run back home with his metaphorical tail between his legs, she shakes her head sadly. "And I thought for sure it'd be him this time..."

However, the Dark Knight once again gets her attention by attempting to leave, and she moves to block the entrance, hand on her hammer. "Hold on, I'm not gonna let you go that easy. I still don't know what the heck is going on here, and I mean to find out. Who are you? Why is everyone so afraid of you? What the heck even /is/ this Baron place? I've never heard of any kingdom by that name on Valoran."

The Dark Knight raises a brow at the statement of her having been 'sure it was him'. But it's unseen, since he's wearing his helmet. And she has questions -- a lot of them! Which he answers first. "The simplest answer is that it is not a kingdom in Valoran. I've no knowledge of a place by that name. Baron is the kingdom that I hail from," he notes.

"Something has happened there, to the king, to the kingdom itself," the Dark Knight explains. "But I have been unable to determine what. I have been trying to keep my ear to the ground, to see if I could determine what. But the bounty on my head, combined with that I am known whether I wear my armor or not, makes it difficult to gather information."

She also asked his name, didn't she? "My name is Duncan Ritter," he offers. "I am -- was, a Dark Knight under the command of his Majesty, the King of Baron. But I have been recently declared a traitor, after I refused to kill a comrade of mine for a crime he did not commit."

     Poppy takes that all in, scratching her chin as she keeps a close eye on Duncan. "That all /sounds/ pretty reasonable. I'm not sure how much I can really trust you, but you did let that kid go and even shared one of your potions with him after he attacked you..." she ruminates aloud, then decides to focus on the easy part first.

"So I'm not in Valoran anymore, got it. Which means I'm either on another continent I don't know about, or I'm in another dimension entirely, either of which means I probably took a fairy path by accident again. I knew I should have turned left at Abbot Cornkey's..." With a frustrated sigh, she moves aside to let Duncan pass.

"Anyway, you don't seem like a bad guy, so I'll let you go. If something bad's happened to this kingdom, and they're trying to execute innocent people... No sir, I don't like it. Maybe I should do some digging around myself, see if I can help." she offers.

Duncan shakes his head. "The boy thought to claim glory for himself -- and probably for his family," he notes. "I knew him as a child; his father is a woodworker and his mother is a musician. 'Twas they who made the guitar I carry." Yes, there is also a nylon-stringed guitar leaning against the wall near the pack, though not in the way.

"Likely a fairy path -- your world may have been connected to the World Tree," Duncan explains, as he begins dousing his fire and putting up the food that was over it. "Worlds are often connected by 'Vines' that behave in strange ways; you were needed here, so a Vine brought you here."

As for her doing some digging? "If you do, take care. Ill has befallen all those who have tried. Though I am not alone in trying to get to the bottom of it. That comrade of mine, he too seeks the truth." A pause. "Who are you? You spoke of being 'sure it was him'... what do you mean? Are you searching for someone in particular?"

     Ah, so they knew each other. Poppy nods at this information, glancing briefly at the guitar as Duncan continues to explain things. "Never heard of this World Tree, but sure. I'll take your word for it." she replies with an easygoing shrug, apparently not finding the concept too difficult to accept.

At the last bit, she sheepishly giggles and says, "Oh, heheh, sorry, I forgot. My name's Poppy, I'm from the kingdom of Demacia. I've uh... well, it's kinda embarrassing now honestly, but I've been searching for the rightful owner of this hammer on my back for... a long time. A very long time."

As a mumbled aside, she adds, "Longer than you've been alive..."

Then, perking up again, she continues. "My friend Orlon gave it to me on his deathbed, said it belonged to the true Hero of Demacia. Someone strong, courageous, selfless, a pinnacle of Demacia's ideals of truth, valor, and justice, someone who could keep the country whole even in the darkest of times!"

Her face is practically beaming at the thought, her hands clasped together in front of her, but she blushes and looks down at the floor when she realizes this. "Anyway, like I said. Haven't found him. Found a lot of people who /seemed/ like they could be him, but they always died or turned out to be a lot less heroic than I thought. So here I am, still lugging this old thing around, just a yor- er, girl with a hammer three times her size, heheh."

Duncan nods his head in greeting. "Well met, Poppy," he offers politely. He listens to her plight. "That is... unfortunate," he notes. "I do hope you find your hero. Do you act as the hero in place of one? Or does the search consume all your time?"

Oh yeah, he totally caught all that other stuff, too. But it's not polite to reference a lady's age, and he doesn't know what a 'yor' is -- clearly an aborted word, but he doesn't know what the rest of the word is, so there's no point asking.

     Poppy gives the guy a friendly grin in response to his greeting... and then blushes again when he suggests that she acts as a hero. "Haha, no, of course not! I'm not a hero, that's just... that's ridiculous! I mean, heh, I help people out when they need it, sure, but that's just normal, isn't it? The Hero would do so much more with this hammer than I ever could."

Eager to change the subject, she goes back to the matter of the kingdom of Baron. "Anyway, uh, I can take care of myself. Been taking care of myself for years, no matter what life throws at me. Bandits, wolves, Noxian soldiers ambushing me in the middle of the night, even whomped a dragon once because he kept stealing sheep from a village. I mean, he was a nice guy and all, just wanted some dinner, but I made sure he knew that stealing from others is wrong. Dunno where he went after that."

The reaction to her instant denial doesn't surprise him -- mainly because it's about the same as he'd say if confronted with such an issue. "That is understandable," he notes. "Where I hail from, there are very specific conditions for heroism. I don't fit them. And I don't care. What may be 'just one person', to someone else, that 'one person' could be a whole world."

And to the mention of Poppy's ability to take care of herself? "You sound like a rather well-practiced warrior, indeed," he points out. "If not a hero, you seem to be following in one's footsteps."

     Poppy nods, glad that Duncan seems to get it. "Yeah, a hero would be someone even greater than Orlon, and he's the greatest person I've ever known. It's a pretty high bar, but I'm sure there's someone out there who can meet the challenge." she says with a smile, then thoughtfully strokes her chin.

"Although... there /is/ someone I keep hearing about in Demacia, who keeps going around solving problems and protecting the innocent and stuff, even against what seems like impossible odds. I've never seen him, but I swear I've been right on his tail before only for him to disappear before I get there. I even went to an unveiling ceremony for a statue this one town built in his honor, and oh /man/ did it look impressive! He was even wielding a huge hammer like this one, so I'm sure he /must/ be the one! But if I can't find him, then..."

Shaking her head, Poppy chuckles a little and turns toward the mouth of the cave. "Well, I shouldn't bore you with all that. You've got people after you, right? And I've got some investigating to do. From one seasoned warrior to another, heroes or no: Take care of yourself, okay? Next time we meet, hopefully we'll have gotten this all sorted out."

Duncan has no idea who 'Orlon' is, but from context, he can guess that Popp's speaking of a hero from her world. He has no knowledge of her world, just like she has no knowledge of his world.

Her mention of this hero... that gets a thoughtful look. "Since I was leaving this world anyway... perhaps I could come and help you. See if I can locate this hero for you. Wherever Darkness rests, heroes -- or would-be heroes -- generally are not far behind. I could set myself up as some sort of local bogeyman, and see what sort of do-gooders can be rustled up from the population."

     Poppy laughs a little at the suggestion. "I don't think it'll be very hard, with you looking like that. Although... I don't know how these Vines work, and I never could get the hang of fairy paths either. There was this sorceress named Lulu back home who knew every winding inch of them, but I guess she's out of the question here. Not sure I'd wanna deal with her babbling anyway." she says, then heads back out into the forest, looking around for anything that looks like a vine.

"That is what I do," Duncan replies. "Man needs a monster to fear, else they set to making monsters of each other. If it keeps the peace for the people to believe me to be a monster, then so be it. I will let them fear me, while I slay the true monsters." As for the Vines? "I know the way. Hold a moment, though." He raises a hand to his mouth and whistles loudly -- somehow accomplishing this while wearing gauntlets.

And from the depths of the forest, there's a loud, croaking, "WARK!" and the sound of running feet. Out of the underbrush it comes, white as a streak of moonlight, eyes shining red as blood, a massive, hooked beak with a small chip knocked out of it. It's...

...A bird. A massive, hulking flightless bird, with yellow-white plumage. It stops next to Duncan and he raises a hand to stroke at its neck, which the bird seems to like, if the soft, cooing, "Kweh~!" it emits is any indication.

"Forgive the sudden appearance," Duncan replies. "This is Nemesis, my steed. Take care, she is... not friendly to strangers, and she may bite."

     "You mean... like they're making a monster of you?" Poppy asks, but shakes her head, guessing that's the entire point. As Duncan offers to show the way, she nods again. "Oh, thank you. I really don't know what I'm looking for anyway."

Then there's a bird, a /huge/ bird the size of a horse. So that's what a chocobo is! "Oh! Hello there, um... Nemesis. My name is Poppy, and it's a pleasure to meet you." she greets the bird, bowing respectfully before continuing. "If you don't mind too much, I'll be accompanying the two of you through these, er, Vines."

There's an awkward moment of silence, but then the small warrior sighs and says, "Alright, let's just get going. This forest is giving me the creeps anyway. Something in the air just doesn't feel right..."

As it turns out, there is a good reason Nemesis is as big as a horse. Because, after placing his pack on the bird's back, just above her tailfeathers, he puts his foot in a stirrup and swings up onto her back. She dips down to make this easier, ducking her head and letting her wings droop. "This way," he notes, turning Nemesis in the direction of the Vine he came through to get back here.

Though he does point out, "There are usually monsters in the forests. Our young hero-to-be likely cleaned them out of this part of the woods on his way in. Besides that, monsters tend to steer clear of chocobos. For obvious reasons." Talons, beaks, sheer speed and size -- amongst others! "So we may see a few, but likely not many. Still. Be ready. There may also be more hopefuls seeking my head for the reward."

Though on that note, he's quick to head in the direction of the Vine. He doesn't want to have to worry about monsters OR people who want to claim his bounty!