Synopsis[]
Deep within the mountain, a group of adventurers find themselves - much to their surprise - face-to-face with a dragon. One of their number, Valnise, faces off with it, directing the others to run. She is not able to forestall pursuit for long, and between tense questions as to whether their leader, Ramshackle, knew about the dragon, the desperate party makes their way toward another beast that they had purposely dodged on the way down. They hope that the Xorn might serve as a bulwark between them and the dragon.
Distractions and strategy aside, Woodfoot and Coloursby do not live to see daylight again. Only Ramshackle and Rowe make it to the Xorn, and it proves as much a danger to them as to the pursuer they hope to escape. Rowe loses the better part of one leg, and it's only thanks to Ramshackle's rescue that he too does not die in the depths of the earth.
In the aftermath, camped in one of the shallower caverns, Ramshackle confesses to having known about the dragon - and, in fact, to it being his target, not merely an obstacle to extracting more wealth from the mountain like so many other adventurers seem to prioritize. Rowe, knowing his old friend will put others in danger if he does nothing, tries to hobble the rest of the way out of the caverns to raise the alarm on one good leg, but he too dies beneath the mountain - not by the teeth of a creature, but nevertheless victim to the same ambition that took his fellows.
Basin City is a gold rush town, a gilded promise built on the sweat and suffering of those who never see it fulfilled. Down in The Mud, where such salt-of-the-earth folks are customarily found, Cal attempts to wrestle the last of the moose for whom she is responsible into his pen. Kevin is a stubborn creature, but perhaps not so stubborn as his handler, and ultimately Cal is victorious. She receives a meager paycheck from the stable's manager, Auntie Sybil, though it's a few coins short and comes with a promise to make up the difference as soon as a couple tardy payors come through.
Cal makes her way to her family's home, a humble dwelling where she and her parents convene perhaps once a week - their only real opportunity to see each other in between the hard work they all do to keep the family afloat. Today, however, she finds her parents being shaken down by some Angels who insist that their "rental insurance" with Old Scratch Insurance Partners is about to lapse due to premiums having been paid only in part after a rate increase some months ago.
Down the street, Odion Osprey-Heronshaw passes through on his way home from his latest adventure with "The" John Johnson's party, and spots the scene. He attempts to intervene, though the initial volume of his timid inquiry is nowhere near appropriate given his distance from the interaction. Nevertheless, he does attract the attention of a few of Mick the Messenger's eyes, and the ringleader of the trio freezes upon seeing him as the aggressive body language of all three becomes immediately more understated.
Odion hustles the rest of the way to the group and introduces himself, asking innocently if everything is all right. Tensely, everyone agrees that it is - except for Cal, who doesn't speak, but shakes her head toward Odion as one of the larger Angels in a boater hat casually snatches her coin purse from her and takes all the wages she just made.
After a bit of conversation, Mick provides business cards to Odion and Cal's family, suggesting they get in touch with his employer to provide (deeply appreciated) feedback (in Odion's case) or to set up a more lenient repayment plan (for the family). Cal silently notes that the business hours are absolutely not accessible to them, given the hours they work.
After the Angels depart, Cal's father embraces her and chides her for her reckless behavior in challenging the Angels. Cal bristles at the notion that she should accept such treatment passively, and explodes when her mother thanks Odion for his intervention. Cal is undeterred, but her annoyance at him somehow precipitates a job offer. He hands over a flier that reads:
- Adventurers Wanted: For hazardous journey, small wages, bitter cold, long weeks of complete darkness, constant danger. Safe return doubtful; honor and recognition in case of success. Bonathan Ramshackle, Hotel Yeehaw, 504 4th Line*
Weevil Woebringer wakes in an unfamiliar but comfortable bed, immediately beset by a string of horrors that he somehow seems to find unremarkable. Before him is a thing that is objectively alarming - too horrifying to try to describe or classify more specifically, in fact - which daintily collects the blood pouring from Weevil's eyes in a petite wineglass set on the end of its scepter. The Dream Devil sips from the glass as Weevil greets it, and though it speaks mysteriously, Weevil's interest is piqued by its assertion that "the Dragon yet lives."
Weevil also spots another being in the space out of the corner of his eye, sitting on a three-legged stool and writing something. As Weevil turns to Hat Man, he sees that the hat bears one large eye and sits directly on the being's shoulders, but as it clocks Weevil's attention it is sucked up into its hat and disappears. When Weevil turns back toward the devil, someone else is in its place: his Granny Mae. The hag warmly greets him and urges him to look up his old childhood friend, Gertrude. She cheerily wishes him woe and ill tidings, and he wakes up in a flophouse, his second shadow back in its usual place (he's accustomed to having two, one of which does not exactly follow his movements).
With unwavering optimism, a thoroughly naive Weevil is promptly swindled out of his entire money purse by the innkeeper and makes his way out into the city where he sees a large adventuring poster being installed, featuring Zachariah Osprey, The John Johnson, and Bonathan Ramshackle.
In the heights of The Heavens, Arianna Floridia Osprey II wakes in her bedroom in one of her father's six redwood-and-glass mansions, none the worse for the wild and very late night she had the previous evening. She bellows daintily for Bimbly Albatross and her double-shot skinny soy squash spice latte. After receiving a message that her father wanted to see her, she places an order for a chamomile bubble bath only to discover - just after Bimbly rushes off to make arrangements - that her latte is *not* soy, prompting her to fling the glass against the wall.
On her way to the bath, she encounters her half-brother Odion, waiting for an audience with their father. While he waits, he spots a heron outside - no, not *a* heron, The Heron. The bird cocks its head and seems to make eye contact; Odion hurriedly looks away. With a rustle of feathers, Odion looks back up, though he's careful not to meet its gaze, but the heron has flown away.
News correspondent Ferrin Whel IV reports on the latest adventure of The John Johnson, from which he's just returned with harpies' wings, doubtless destined to adorn his latest fashionable apparel. His band of Merry Men has returned without injury for the sixth consecutive time, an impressive streak, and the party paused to distribute the party's remaining rations to the needy youth of Ironwater.
Flo and Odion meet with their father, who announces that Flo - apparently, in his estimation, needing some motivation to make a name for herself and live up to the Osprey legacy - is out of the house until she establishes a Legend as scribed by the Church of St. Wilde, something Odion is to help her do. Despite her protestations that her social life *is* legendary, she is summarily dismissed. When she goes to her mother to complain and seek support, she instead receives a Gun.
Cal's morning begins with an unpleasant encounter at work - finding the barn door unlocked, she discovers Rip Durkin sleeping inside. With a flurry of slurred and vague assertions about fate that nevertheless betray an unexpected knowledge of Odion and the adventure to which she was invited, he presses a gold coin into her hand, insisting she must hold onto it at all costs.
Weevil's morning continues as he runs into The John Johnson and his Merry Men parading through town; when he enthusiastically accosts his hero, he receives an unsolicited forehead autograph and nonspecific encouragement that he, too, can be great one day. In pursuit of that goal, when he spots one of Ramshackle's adventuring posters, he decides to make his way to the advertised location.
At the Hotel Yeehaw, the party convenes for the first time: Odion and Flo arrive first, finding Ramshackle lamenting the underwhelming response to his (admittedly blunt) advertisement thus far; Weevil arrives next, and as Ramshackle interviews him, a shared interest comes to light: Weevil makes no secret of the fact that he wants to slay a dragon, and when he says so, Ramshackle seems to particularly approve.
Cal is the last to arrive, her nerves manifesting as somewhat clumsy and ill-fated bold behavior as she chugs other people's water to punctuate negotiations. She is cagey about any medical ability to begin with, but upon hearing that it may merit some extra pay, becomes a little more forthcoming about maybe being able to help with keeping the group alive.
Ramshackle details their aim: the treasure in the mountain is dwindling, but he has a map to what he believes to be the final lode of gold, and if they find it, stories will be written about them for the rest of their days. He is already in negotiation with several of the city's financiers, including Old Scratch Capital Partners.
In order to prove their mettle to potential financiers and secure their funding, he provides them with a side quest: an elemental, he says, proved a bit of a challenge to some of his scouts. He gives Odion a map to the creature, opens a tab in his name on their behalf, and departs.
After a few drinks, the party briefly confers about where they'll spend the night; as Weevil and Cal conclude they'll probably need to find an alley (since Weevil is without coin and Cal is too far away from Ironwater to return home), Odion invites them to stay with him and Flo in their hotel.
They settle in, Cal asleep almost as her head hits the pillow in the nicest bed she's ever occupied and Odion selecting a spot on the balcony as he's become accustomed to sleeping on the floor in the course of his adventures.
As he drifts off, we flash back to the first time he slept on the floor - his first night in St. Wilde's Adventuring Preparatory, when he was too slow to claim one of the beds. That night, one of the trainers had told him he had a job: to make sure those in Basin City are taken care of, and that the job began that day.
Aware of how relevant those words are today to the very people sleeping in the next room, Odion is startled awake from a sound within - someone is inside, someone who doesn't belong.