☀ S E A S O N 2: Chapter 2

Dasvidaniya, Pinefallow.

The departure date was set. It came closer, closer, and then suddenly arrived.

It's today.

The day has been absorbed with last-minute plans. There are supplies and ropes and weapons to gather; food to pack, armor to repair. And of course, there's KANOS's scales. CARRIE is quietly respecting your privacy as to what exactly they are, simply relieved at their power: suppressing the dark transformations of the infected. If KANOS's estimations are correct, the scales' magickal charge will be expended in three days' time -- hopefully more than enough to obtain Kitezh's artifact and return.

CARRIE runs this way and that in the Yard, helping stack crates and throwing suitcases into a pile. "Yes!" she yells. "Over there! No, not there! DON'T STEP ON SNEAKY!"

At the barriers of the Yard paces dark OGG, backed by several darkened centaurs, goblins, fairies, tanuki, and even fae -- you recognize one of the ones who you met with YSOLDA. Every day, there seems to be more of them. Their numbers eerily grow.

"REX will be here any minute!" CARRIE yells. "Anyone who's going needs to be ready!"

She pauses in all the chaos to survey the scene. Her beloved parolees and magickal charges all hustling together. For a moment, the Keeper's face contorts in anguish.

How could I expect you to do something I'm not even doing myself?! she'd asked. The thought of making you go this alone is reprehensible to her -- she feels responsible for you. But the idea of abandoning the park she's been entrusted with was unthinkable.

It was DIEGO who had replied: You care deeply about the park, Miss Caroline, I can tell... And if anything were to happen while you were gone-- it'll be horrifying. You are responsible for this place, and what a responsibility that is. However, I do believe this is your home.

She takes a deep breath, shaking off her lingering doubts.

And then, overhead: a deafening noise.

The airplane that lands looks like something out of an Amelia Earheart biopic. A man leans out of the cockpit, whooping and hollering and waving a hat.

Yep. That's REX RAMBLE.

Trailing the airplane is a banner that reads JUST GRADUATED: ASSOCIATE'S DEGREE IN SOCIAL SCIENCES.

The dark fae shoots several arrows up, but the plane avoids them smoothly and makes a slick landing in the Yard. REX kicks opens the door to the cockpit and jumps out.

"Phew!" he exclaims. "You're not shitting me! Those dark creatures mean business."

"And there's three times as many of them as there was yesterday," CARRIE says grimly. "There's no time to waste."

"I followed your leads," REX replies solemnly. "Secretively followed up with the Boatmasters of Laut Sihir and some of the other high-level Society members. Nobody knows where Pinefallow's artifact went, and if they do, they ain't talkin'. Nobody can remember the Elder wanting to follow up with trackin' down the Hidden Land at all, and he seems laissez faire about trying to address the security issues that made the Boatmasters wanna back Laut Sihir out of the Society in the first place."

CARRIE presses her lips close together. "As insane as it sounds... I want to ask you to... well, LESHY and Kitezh already agreed... I know it seems like Pinefallow could use all the help it could get right now... but..."

"Keep the curse secret for now," REX agrees. "No problemo here."

"Alright!" CHAMP shouts, rounding the plane. "Everything's packed up and ready."

"We better get outta here before dark," REX says. "All aboard!"

CARRIE impulsively grabs REX's hand before he turns. "REX--"

He grins. "No need to say it, Keeper," he says. "I'll take good care a'your parolees."

The flight goes fast.

And by fast -- you really mean fast. It only takes five hours to fly from Pennsylvania to the middle of the wilderness in Russia. REX rambles on in explanation -- something about following ley lines and harnessing magickal energy flow and ancient modes of magickal transportation. Either way, it could have been worse. You watch the European landscapes blur by underneath you, giving way to breathtaking snowy vistas.

"We passed the distractor spell now!" yells REX. "Hold on for landing!"

There's a stomach-lurching dive -- and suddenly you're ploughing through the snow...

And skidding into a warm, humid paradise.

You look behind you and see a vicious blizzard with almost zero visibly. But in a stark line, it falls away, and you've landed on plush green grass. There are flower gardens and lush vegetable trellises. It's so hot you're sweating. Ahead of you is a stunningly huge cabin made of logs, with intricate carvings all over. You know it's the wrong culture, but it reminds you of Norse or Viking architecture.

"Welcome to Kitezh," says REX.