The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea

>Just act casual, don't do anything to draw more attention than you already are between your entourage and your very existence.

Ask Tolu about Mermaid

If people seem reluctant to accept a faun in their midst, start up a musical routine about tolerance and knowing your neighbors!

ahh she's probably just at the fountain

Uhhhhh... Tolu, have you met Mermaid recently? Orrrr... do you know where she hangs out when she's in Topia?

"huh? oh no i haven't. but i think she is probably at the fountain in the middle of town."

Well, let's check there, then.


As you walk through town, you can't help but feel Tolu's presence is the only thing keeping Pan safe right now.
Some people are starting to follow you down the street.
Pan just keeps walking.


You see Mermaid at the fountain, talking to Fairy. They don't notice you arrive. You wonder what they might have been talking about while waiting for you.


"hey---"


"hey fairy! hey mermaid! you wanna help us with something?"
"Wha- Hi guys, what's up? What do you neeee..."


"... Oh. Hi, Alex. Is this a friend of yours?"

Sure, let's go with that. His name is Pan and he wants to be a regular citizen. Do you think you could help him with it?

"Uh. Probably? I don't... really... know..."

"IF I WANTED TO EAT HER, I WOULDN'T HAVE LET HER RIDE ME INTO TOWN FIRST
YOU HAVE NO NEED TO WORRY"

"Well then. Pan, was it? Let's see what I can do for you."
.
.
.
Mermaid floats over and mutters to you.
"Um, Demon? Alex? Why did you need to ride him into town?"

Because you don't have legs anymore???

"... Oh. I can teach you how to move on land later, if you want."

>That sounds good. Let's do that. But first, we have some business here, right?

yes!
do that business!

"So, you wanna live the civilized life, do you? Well, first I'd say you gotta introduce yourself, but that might... be difficult..."
"hey wait a second!"


An ogre separates himself from the crowd, with a face like he's got a lot of questions to ask and not enough time for the answers.

"you're just gonna let this crazy monster walk around town?
those things eat people! and they destroy stuff! how can you trust it?"


"NICE TO MEET YOU, TOO
DO YOU GREET EVERY NEW CITIZEN THIS WAY?"




He walks back home. The crowd starts to disperse.


"Well, that was more eloquent than I could ever be. Maybe this won't be so hard. Now, there's quite a few different places you can go, here in Topia, for different reasons, so listen up."

Fairy continues to talk to Pan.


"Hey Alex. There's plenty more room in the pool here for you."

Sure, okay. You need to get used to swimming, anyhow.


"...So that's about it, I guess. I mighta forgot something. Where do you wanna go first?"

"I GUESS I'M A LITTLE HUNGRY
I WOULD LIKE TO VISIT THE DINER, PLEASE"

"Arright, let's go, then!
Oh, and uh, good luck with your mission, Alex."

Fairy gets up, and he, Pan, Dryad, and Tolu head off to Witch's diner.


"Well then. Alex, I'm gonna go ahead and assume Heaven didn't give you a whole lot of details about our mission."

Yeah, Heaven was kind of sparing with the details. Just that I had to be able to swim, because you found something interesting? So....What's up?

edit: TELL PAN TO ORDER THE SOFT BREADS

>Well, share what you DO know at leastttt

Well, all Heaven said was that you found something interesting, Mermaid.

"Yyyyeah, it's interesting, all right."
Look here, Alex. You know what this is, right? You better."

Well, yeah. That's a bit of belief. Why's it in a bottle?


"Just... look."

She uncorks the bottle.


The belief slides out of the little bottle, and as soon as it hits the water, starts to swim around the pool.

Wait...

Who's belief is this?

"It's not mine, Alex. I found it in the ocean. There was a bunch of them, just, little disconnected bits of belief with minds of their own. I took a bit of it to Heaven, and Heaven said it had nothing to do with this."


"Alex, didn't you arrive in Realm without Heaven's direction?
Because... I think there's more where you came from.
And they're lost, swimming in the endless void that is Realm's Sea."

oh so are all the other dead people are coming here too except they are just little beliefyfish?

Can they communicate? Or, like, understand anything? How smart are they, basically?

Dude you gotta help them!

How...how broken are these people?

Gotta go back to the human world and tell them to stop telling stories about magical brainless fish

Gotta go back to the human world and tell them to stop telling stories about magical brainless fish

Oh, this got me thinking. Could they be caused by "people lost at sea" or something? Do you know any myths like that, Alex?

What?! But... we have to help those poor souls!

"That's exactly it, Alex. There are potentially good people lost out there, who knows how many may have been eaten, or trapped?
That's pretty much our job. Heaven wants us to help them.
More importantly, Heaven wants us to find out where in Realm they're appearing from.
They can't all just be appearing in the sea, right? After all, you appeared in the forest."

That is true. So, once we rescue them, then what? They're barely living.

"Uh, Heaven said we should take them to it. Then it will take care of them, I guess?"

Oh. You think you know what Heaven will do with them... You'd rather not tell Mermaid.
Still, Heaven knows best, you guess.
So, Mermaid, what's our plan?

"Well, I figure we'll go from town to town, see if the locals know anything, so on.
We can cross Topia off the list of towns we'll be searching, as it's not really connected to the sea.
So, um... it's gonna be a long trip... is there anything you want to do in Topia before we leave?"

You should probably make sure that nobody has killed Pan yet before you head off.

>Gather a travelling party! Bring faerie!

Foooooooooooood!

Oh yeah, wasn't Mermaid going to teach you how to move on land?

Learn to walk on land and say bye to your pals, yo.

"A wagon? Ohh, yeah, that's a good idea... but, you know we're gonna be underwater most of this trip?
And you should learn to move on land yourself, anyway..."
Oh. So, it's just gonna be us two? We can't bring anyone with us?
"I think so. After all, Heaven asked US to take on this mission.
Probably because we can swim... well, you couldn't before, but now you can.
Either way, more people would just be a burden."

Right then. Let's go.


It takes a little while, but she teaches you how to move on land.


You head to the diner. Just in time, too, it looks like everyone's leaving.

"Oh, hey Alex! What's up, are you leaving?"
Yeah, about. We just wanted to say goodbye, and um, check on Pan.


"Arright! And yeah, don't worry, Pan's fine."
"THANK YOU FOR THE ASSISTANCE, ALEX
I AM EAGER TO START ANEW, AND I WISH YOU LUCK IN YOUR TRAVELS"
"Yeah, see you guys! Stay safe, alright?"
We will. Goodbye, friends.


"Right, so we got a bit of a trek till we get to the seaside.
Don't worry, I got a few little huts along the path we can stop in when it gets dark,
but there's not gonna be too much to eat till we find another town or something.
I'm gonna go inside and get some travel food, and then we'll go."



So she did, and so you two left. The trek up to the sea was difficult, but otherwise uneventful.
It took little more than a day, but you made it. You made it to the seashore.



So, Mermaid, where are we going, again?

INTO THE SEA