Level 2: Need Another Hero, Girl and/or Sprite

20XX SIDEQIX LTD.Once there was a hero. She was a girl. She was a sprite. Everyone in the land loved her so—because she was so helpful! ‘Miss!,’ the villagers would shout. And then they would say something like ‘the key to my tavern fell down the rabbit hole. Would you, could you?’ And being the only villager tiny enough to fit the hole she would naturally reply—

OF COURSE I COULD. GLADLY, I WOULD

…but that was some time ago. For now the beloved Missy Girl has gone missing!

AND THERE ARE NO MORE CRIES FOR HELP

---

Kurumi, Pira and Thundra find themselves quite comfortably rested in an aromatic field of pink and yellow flowers. There is a rustle every now and then, and one might spy a cottontail—a scurrying critter not quite as quick as the eye!

But no ninjas are jumping out at our heroines. There are no new challengers looking for a fight or a dance-off. And no machines…

Well, maybe that pink thing in the sky is a machine. But it’s quite pretty and pink and probably no more a threat than the frolicking bunnies.

---

Pinkie is the finest, fastest and most advanced ship in the solar system! And Space Commander Casanova knows this because according to her GPS (Galactic Positioning System), there are no compatible fueling stations on this apparently primitive world. (…which is weird. Even DinoPlanet had a fueling station that was run by Caveman Carl.)

Perhaps if she follows that Terrain Vehicle below, the driver can give her directions.

---

There is no driver in the magical coach, so perhaps Princess Diamond should not be too surprised that the self-driving pumpkin-on-wheels took her diminutive friend to a strange land.

The MagiCoach was given clear instructions to take the girl to the fairyland from which she was missing.

RETURN THE MISSY GIRL? NOW WHY WOULD ANYBODY WANT TO DO *THAT*

The magic ends. Princess Diamond instinctively steps off the coach before it shrinks to a regular sized jack-o’-lantern. Sparkle is still inside.

By the time Commander Casanova has her boots on the ground, Sparkle is out of the pumpkin and fluttering at Princess Diamond’s side. And the three new arrivals find three other similarly mismatched ladies.



All six of you are standing in a flowery field. The sky is blue, the view is a lumpy patchwork of farmland. There might be a town, but right now the only people in sight are the six of you…!

The rustling in the flowers grows quieter, quieter, silent… and though most of our heroines cannot spy them, Casanova’s readings do not detect the creatures as hostile.

Sparkle is the exception. Her little fey eyes see past the many individual stems. She can barely make out the faces, but two critters in particular seem to be hanging onto every word. When Princess Diamond introduces the fairy by name, the creatures look at each other. Then they focus on the fairy, waiting, waiting… and finally, before she can speak, they jump out.

"MISSY GIRRRRLLL!!" both shout.

One creature is a yellow bunny with a pink tail. Casanova’s instrument identifies her as a Blabbit. The other is a mushroom-person with a big toothy grin. He is identified as a Munchroom.

"It’s gotta be you," Blabbit goes on, "even if you’re a lot sparklier than you used to be!"

"PURDY SPARKLES!" Munchroom exclaims.

"And your hair is fluffier!"

"PURDY FLUFFY!" Munchroom twirls about, releasing several spores from his polka-dotted head. But none of the spores spray anyone other than Blabbit, who seems mildly annoyed but otherwise unaffected.

"You even look a little younger, if you don’t mind my saying so."

"PURDY MIIIIIIIINNNNND!!!" Munchroom does a headspin, circling about our heroines without colliding with anyone.

Blabbit just ignores him. She asks Sparkle, "So, things’ll be like before again, right?" Her gaze rises and shifts, meeting the eyes of the other heroines.

The critters look at each other, then back at Pira. They lower their heads in shame.

"Oh, you’re probably right," Blabbit says.

"PURDY RIGHT," Munchroom agrees.

And while individual monster NPCs don’t normally have any names but their creature names, Blabbit makes an intro so she will no longer be perceived as weird. "I’m A. Blabbit, and this is my associate, best friend and workout partner, A. Munchroom."

"CALL ME A.!" Munchroom adds, even though he doesn’t mind being perceived as weird.

"Also, your spaceship-driver friend introduced herself as Space Commander Casanova."

"YOU FROM OTHER PLANET?" A. Munchroom points a fungal finger at Casanova. "SHE ASK YOU THIS," he explains.
A. Blabbit confesses, "We didn’t really know Missy Girl very well. If we did, y’know.. we wouldn’t have mistaken Sparkle for her."

"ALL THE VILLAGER KNOW!"

"Yes, they do know Missy Girl very, very well! You can go to the village. Let’s see… you go a mile-point-three south by southwest until you get to the intersection of Brambletromp Street and Dustistix Avenue…"

A. Lunchroom interrupts, "I KNOW SHORTCUT!"

A. Blabbit loves to talk, and going the long way means talking more, so she starts hopping when people are ready to move. (She’s also content to stay still and talk if the ground starts to crack all around!)

"Casanova, Pira, you both asked me about Missy Girl. Who is she? The hero of the land! She can find your lost coach keys, order a pizza for you when Messy Pidge the Messenger Pigeon gets the pineapple kind, or she can cast her green mist on monsters—"

A. Munchroom’s eyes widen in horror. "GREEN MIST! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA…!" He head spins so fast he drills his way underground, apparently taking his shortcut to Outta Here.

And A. Blabbit pauses.

"Yeah, um, full disclosure. A. Munchroom and I were among the monsters. But I don’t hold a grudge or anything. The mist just sent me home to my husband and twenty-nine children. And really, once she left the land I realized how wrong we were to attack her.

"Missy Girl was a sweet, lovable fairy who helped everyone. And all she ever got in return was random food." When Pira asks how she knows for sure, A. Blabbit responds, "You’ll know for sure she’s Real Gone when you get to the village.

"I think she left because of me," she goes on, voice heavy with remorse. "Not like me personally, but all the other Blabbits and Munchrooms, and the Zebrats and the Sickamore Bees, and those pessimistic Toucan’ts always throwing their half empty glasses at her. It’s all our faults. Especially the Toucan’ts’."

A. Blabbit talks a lot without saying much, though many other monsters may have answered Casanova’s internalized question about where music comes from. As our heroines take the long walk to the village, Beardos and Kitty-Caterwauls sing happily as they frolic in the flora! As the monsters sing, A. Blabbit tells you all about The Village of Cititon. Mayor Senile has been re-elected for the 14th consecutive term, Bart Ender runs the local tavern, affectionately called ‘Pub,’ located next to ‘Shop’ on the intersection of Main Street and Main Avenue.

She then goes on a wild tangent about ladies’ fashion, despite only wearing a pink ribbon on her cottonny tail. This leads to another tangent on Blabbit fashion. Apparently girl-bunnies wear ribbons and boy-bunnies wear tophats. It’s the only short tangent in A. Blabbit’s incessant monologue.


At the border of The Village of Cititon, A. Blabbit apologizes to Casanova.

"I never did answer your question, but I don’t have any idea where Missy Girl might have gone. But I think the villagers will be able to—eep!"

She quickly dives into a rabbit hole. It’s a black circle that opens below her dive, then shrinks to a black dot and disappears once A. Blabbit is underground.

You see a man in a straw hat and blue overalls. He’s leaning on a shovel. He stares at the ground where the Blabbit escaped.

"Durn, them critters sure do know a lot about making holes. Dig Doug’s the name. Uh… welcome to Cititon. Would you like to grab a bite at Pub or buy a new outfit at Shop? I’d recommend staying at Inn, but I don’t see the point since none of you are dead."

Dig Doug replies, "You must be referring to Bob Questgiver. Because he’s the only Questgiver who gives quests. Penelope Questgiver and the kids just make pottery at home. They would probably do other things if Hero Sword Guy didn’t keep going into people’s homes to smash pots. He steals the homeowners’ gems too. He’s kind of a jerk.

"Yeah, Missy Girl was great. Bob almost got Hero Sword Guy to accept the quest to find her. I guess he got a couple of leads, but then he realized that completing the quest means she’ll be the hero of the land again, and he’ll lose his gig."

THESE HEROIC GIRLS COULD SEEK BOB AT PUB, OR THEY COULD SEARCH THE VILLAGE FOR HERO SWORD GUY

Dig Doug seems to suddenly remember something. "Oh yeah… Bob’s at Pub if you got any questions about the quest, or you can probably find Hero Sword Guy somewhere in the residential area. We can’t get rid of that—"

LANG-U-AGE, DOUG! THERE ARE HEROINES PRESENT

Doug holds his hat in his hands. "Forgive me, Miss. Ladies," he says humbly.