Enter, The Other Mystics

The McFearson House, before the fire

Meanwhile, not far from McFearson Hill, down in the swine-commons east of Hamfest village, and at some time not long after the events recently told of the Fire and Water Wizards, there was another contest of wills between two siblings. This time we find ourselves in the company of Storm Wizard, none other than the brother of Fire Wizard and Water Wizard, and his younger sister, Juliet, the fourth in the alchemical set, a sweet young girl who loves the earth and healing and has devoted herself to the worship of the Golden Sheaf Goddess, Minvar.

It's just after sunrise on a blustery autumn morning in the yard of the Mr and Mrs Bellowick, and the swine are grousing around for grubs and rutting and and snorting while being cajoled by the two siblings back toward the barn. Out of the corner of his eye, a momentary glint of polished metal draws Storm Wizard's attention to a speck of a figure moving along the distant road-ridge up on McFearson Hill, heading toward the old burned out McFearson house. It's odd, he thinks, for anyone to be heading up there as it's been quite some time since old man McFearson took the remainder of his family and fled southward to Wheatsdale in the middle of the night after the fire where his daughter Pamela died (though some rumors to the contrary persisted, while other rumors claimed her ghost was seen in the window of her room in the old burned out house).

And so, dropping his chores like a hot potato, Storm Wizard insists his little sister remain behind to watch the swine and make sure that none of them wander out into the open pasture beyond the commons. Well, this was really not going to pan out that way, as she's a feisty little thing, and refused to remain behind. And so the two of them, grumbling for different reasons, headed up toward the McFearson Hill to see who might be up there. It was probably no one of interest, just a peasant, or a wandering monk, but there was something about the figure that struck them both as ... strange. Perhaps it was the black cloak, or the gait by which the figure moved. At any rate, they rushed along as fast as they could, and made their way past the Hogsworth homestead cutting across their fields, and over the Fox Brook Bridge. Before they made it that far, however, they were hailed by a little girl, a friend from the Monastery of the Golden Sheaf, who also insisted on coming along. And so the three of them marched their way up the long trail, edging the cliffs and finally made their way to the barn, into which they had briefly seen the unusual figure enter. By that time they were a lot closer, the person having apparently stopped along the trail long enough for the little troop to catch up. What they saw struck them as exceedingly strange. The figure was a beautiful red haired woman wearing a jet black skull cap with a widow's peak, and a long flowing black cloak, black chain-mail, and high black boots. Into the barn she vanished.

And so the young adventurer's made their way to the barn very carefully, sidling along the bushes and hedge that marked the old garden that once was the envy of the neighborhood but now a warren of rabbit holes and weeds. They slunk past the old burned out McFearson house, noting the second story window where the Hogsworth kids swore they'd seen Pamela McFearson's ghost in the moonlight not long ago. It was dreadfully creepy, and so they crept past as quietly as three field mice. And into the barn went Storm Wizard only to find that the strange woman had indeed vanished completely.

And so the siblings went inside the barn and searched it carefully, leaving Morgana, their friend from the Monastery to keep watch at the door. And so it was that they too found the strange Dragon Chest, and so it was that they too discovered that it was as immobile as if it had roots deep into the ground. And so it was that they discovered that indeed it very well might have, as someone, they could tell, had not long before tried to dig beneath the chest only to lose the rocks and dirt enough to find that it very much did go down into the ground. To this Juliette proposed that the chest was not a chest at all, but a coffin, perhaps. Storm Wizard roundly scoffed at this notion, but had no better suggestion either.

Quite out of the blue they heard a gruff, low, gravelly voice tell them in no uncertain terms that they'd best not trifle with that old Dragon Chest, and spinning around, in the far corner of the barn, sitting on the floor as though he had not a care in the world, was a furry little man in a red cap, wearing a green vest, and smoking a long stemmed pipe, gazing at them with small beady little eyes and a crooked little smile.

It came as a great shock to the two of them, and they recalled that not that long ago, just such a furry fellow and his furry friends were responsible for a great number of thefts at the last Spring Fair in Hamfest, least season. Storm Wizard accused the fellow, and there were harsh words spoken on both sides, and in the end the little fellow managed to work out a bargain with the two feisty children of old man Bellowick. If they agreed to leave McFearson Hill and never return, he would explain to them about the chest. And so, having made that bargain he told them that inside the chest were magical seeds which would never fail to grow a bumper crop and make whomever planted them wealthier than anyone else in the town. And so the two agreed, after another verbal tussle, to take some of the seeds and plant them in the spring, on the condition that they never come back to McFearson Barn again, and that they never tell a living soul where they got the seeds. Then the little man took out a small triangular key and fit it into the strange triangular lock on the chest and opened it up to reveal a chest full of small black seeds, and taking a handful, filled a small pouch, and gave it to the earnestly amazed children. Closing the chest with a thud, he vanished in thin air.

It wasn't long before they quarrelled about whether or not to leave the barn, or keep exploring it, since their agreement, technically, with the little man, was to never return, but they didn't agree on how long they would take to depart... when they heard rustling in the loft above. Climbing the ladder, Storm Wizard was suddenly shocked to find himself the recipient of a blinding flash of light and fell backwards. When Juliette tried to climb the ladder herself, she too was suddenly rendered unconscious, and so it was not for some time until Morgana managed to awaken the two, outside the barn, at the end of the day, laying in the old garden among the rabbit holes and weeds. They decided it would be a good idea to head home after all.

A cold wind blew down the hill side, as they trundled along blearily. They hadn't gone terribly far down the hill when they heard a loud rustling in the heavy undergrowth of the forest through which the trail lead them. It was getting dark. The wind was howling, and Storm Wizard, being that sort of fellow, marched off in the direction of the noise. Picking his way through the undergrowth he came upon a wild boar that had been rooting in the bushes, and turning on him with an angry snort, it charged him with it's sharp tusks, bloodshot eyes, and yellow saliva dripping from it's mouth. Now, it must be said that there are few in Hamfest who are quite as thin and gangly, under nourished and sickly as poor Storm Wizard, and so when the beast charged him his life was very much in jeopardy. Yet without hesitation, and with a steady hand and eye that belied his diminutive form, he barked out a thunderous chant and there was a sudden flash of lightening that flickered off his finger like some monstrous static charge, and hitting the boar in the head, blasted a black smoldering hole right through it's left eye, dropping it like a sack of rocks as it came skidding through the dirt up to Storm Wizard's little feet. Proud and defiant was Storm Wizard that evening, as they headed back to the their home across the fields.

And so they made it home and found themselves warm and cozy by the fire, puzzling over the strange black seeds, and all they'd heard and seen since leaving the swine-stead for McFearson Hill. A few days went by and they thought it might be ok for them to just take a quick peek at the hill and if possible, Juliette thought it was her sacred duty to find out of Pamela McFearson's ghost was indeed in that old house, and if so to help her to find her rest in the after life. And so they head back toward McFearson Hill one chilly morning not long afterwards. But this time they took two of their other brothers, Daniel and Brian, fighters both, and with them took the chance that others might have thought quite foolish.

It was a dangerous time of year, though, and before they could make their way over Fox Brook Bridge beyond the safety of their pastures and the swine-commons, they heard the howling of wolves approaching fast through the forest. They found a refuge in some rocks and took a stand. Four wolves came from the woods and assailed them viciously. It was a battle that none of them would soon forget, and by great luck and daring they slew the wolves and took their pelts as a reward and proof of their prowess.

And this is where we left things that day.