The Firebird and Three Princes

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This is another collab brought to you by DragonFogel and MalkyTop. It happened when I was ranting about this fairy tale (which you don't have to read really, in fact, I actually think it's best if you don't for now and just suggest any random thing here first) and Fogel read it over and said, "You know, this could possibly make a good adventure." And thus it was born.

Title subject to change.

The Golden Apple



Once upon a time, there was a far-off kingdom.



It was ruled by Tsar Vyslav, who had three sons: Dimitri, Vasilii, and Ivan.



Tsar Vyslav had a special walled garden, with many rare trees that grew precious gems as fruit.



His favorite tree, and the rarest, was one that grew golden apples.



One day, however, Tsar Vyslav came to the tree and saw it was missing one apple.



The Tsar discussed the matter with his two older sons.

"All right, boys. Somebody's been stealing my apples at night."
"Shocking, Father! This thief must be dealt with swiftly!"
"Oh, come on. I don't see what the big deal is, Dad. The tree's growing more. You'll have it back in, like, a week. Hell, you've got, what, three trees that grow diamonds?"



"It's the principle of the thing! Nobody steals from the Tsar and gets away with it! Now, one of you had better solve this problem, or I'll disown you both!"



"Don't worry, Father! I will find the thief for certain."
"Yeah, uh, sure. I'll do that, uh thing. What he said."



"Good. Whichever one of you solves this problem gets to be heir, since I've had a hard time figuring out which of you two is less worthless, and this seems like as good a test as any."



"Hey! Why can't I be your heir?"
"Because you're too young, Ivan. And also a spoiled brat. Now stop listening in on our conversations."