Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Three adventurers stood before the palace. OJ, the normal paladin, Paintbrush, the hot-headed fighter, and Yin-Yang, the quarreling barbarian.

OJ held an envelope in his hands. The three were summoned by the king for a very important quest.

Upon entering the palace's grounds, the three revealed the invitation and were led inside the grand building by a knight.

They followed the knight into the throne room. There, sat the king. A very unenthusiastic spoon stood beside him.

"Ah, brave adventurers! You've come to my aid!" He exclaimed.

"What are we aiding you with?" Paintbrush asked. "We were never told."

"You must recover my stolen treasure! A horrible dragon has taken it!" He lamented.

The spoon beside him spoke up. "Uh, we don't actually know where it went. It's just-"

"Quiet, Silver Spoon! Anyway, you three will be accompanied by my royal advisor here, and he'll also provide you with a map to the dragon's cave." 

Silver Spoon reluctantly stepped down to the three adventurers' level and handed Paintbrush the aforementioned map.

"Now go, go my brave adventurers!" The king shooed them away.

~

"When we find that dragon, we will slay him! And we will be heros!" Yang yammered on, nonstop, about slaying the dragon that supposedly stole the treasure.

"The dragon probably won't even be there. I'm pretty sure dragons only go into their caves at night to sleep." OJ pointed out.

"Ugh, I do hope that's the case. I've just been polished, I can't be fighting dragons!" Silver Spoon complained dramatically.

"Yeah, yeah... Hey, it looks like we're about here!" Paintbrush looked up from the map. There stood a cave, sitting atop many rocks.

"How are we going to get up there?" Silver questioned.

Yin-Yang immediately ran up and starting climbing the rocks eagerly.

"Like that." Paintbrush gestured to them. Silver Spoon scoffed.

~

After a climb, slowed down by Silver's complaining, they made it to the mouth of the cave. It appeared to be decorated with crystals, and the four could faintly smell lavender.

"Huh. Weird. Maybe there's lavender plants in there?" OJ suggested.

Paintbrush shrugged. "I doubt it. Let's go inside."

Upon entering, they froze. Sitting in the cave was a purple candle, sitting criss cross applesauce on the ground. She was breathing deeply, seemingly unaware of their presence. 

She appeared to have draconic features, horns, wings, a tail, and very sharp claws.

"That's the dragon?" Yin questioned.

"Sh! She's distracted. We can sneak past her and look for the stolen treasure." OJ whispered.

They all nodded and split up.

Yin-Yang ended up a little too close to the dragon candle for comfort.

"We could easily slay her. Be heros!" Yang said.

"Yang, hush! We don't need any unnecessary bloodshed." Yin scolded him.

They continued searching, quietly bickering. Or rather, it was quiet at first. Slowly they got louder, until...

"Hey!"

They all snapped their attention to the dragon candle. She was standing up now, and she looked rightfully upset.

"What in the world are you doing in my home?" She demanded.

"Well, we... Um... We're just passing through, my dear! Nothing to worry about..." Silver lied.

~

"Uh, make a persuasion check for me, Silver." Floory said.

"A what now?"

"You roll a die 20 to see how well you lied."

Silver nodded and rolled the die, proceeding to get a...

"It's a three."

Floory winced. "Ohhh, um, okay. Candle, make an insight check."

Candle rolled her own die, before getting...

"Oh, it's an eighteen."

~

Silver lied. Badly.

The dragon candle looked unconvinced and unamused.

"Tell me the truth immediately."

"Well, um..." Paintbrush started, before getting interrupted.

"There's no treasure here!" Yang exclaimed.

"Treasure? You're stealing from me?" The candle dragon looked even less happy.

"No! I mean, didn't you steal something first? We were told a dragon stole the king's treasure. We're here to retrieve it!" Paintbrush accused.

"Well, I assure you I haven't stolen anything." She crossed her arms.

"I... Did say we had no proof it was a dragon's doing. It only went missing, I'm not sure why he ordered us to terrorize a possibly, and now probably, innocent dragon." Silver Spoon said.

"Well... I guess we were mistaken..." OJ clasped his hands together. "We're very sorry, uh, miss dragon.."

"Candle."

OJ nodded. "Candle. Right. We're sorry for breaking into here and accusing you of being a thief."

Candle hummed. "It's no worries. You were... Misled."

"We should probably get back to the king and report that the treasure isn't here." Paintbrush said.

They left the cave, after saying their goodbyes to Candle, of course.

~

Upon returning to the castle and sharing the news, the king was less than thrilled.

"So, the dragon didn't actually steal anything. She was wrongly accused-" OJ stated.

"Are you calling me a liar?" The king demanded.

"Well, no, but-" 

"KICK THEM AWAY! You are all banned from my town! For life!" 

"I'm sorry, what now-?"

~

The four were promptly kicked out of the town. Figuratively and literally.

"Ow..." Paintbrush groaned and stood up.

Silver Spoon got up and immediately brushed himself off. The regal bard was less than comfortable being thrown into the dirt.

"Well... What now?" Paintbrush asked. 

Yin shrugged.

"We should probably make a shelter. We don't have the supplies to travel to another town." Paintbrush said.

Silver Spoon scoffed. "I am NOT sleeping in the wilderness! That's beneath me!" 

"Now is not the time to be prissy."

While the two argued, OJ noticed the sky. The clouds were a dark grey, almost black, and the wind was picking up a bit.

"Oh, hah, of course there's gonna be a storm. Just our luck." OJ sighed.

Thunder rumbled out, and soon enough our cast was drenched in rainwater.

~

"Oh, hey, that was pretty fun! We should do this again sometime." Floory said.

"Yeah, definitely! Thanks for suggesting it, Candle." Paintbrush smiled at her.

Candle looked slightly sheepish. "Well, I figured it was something we all needed."

Chapter Text

Rain poured down, enveloping the air in a rich, earthy scent. The four had failed trying to find any shelter. Mainly because Silver Spoon was being uncooperative. After bickering, Paintbrush finally came up with an idea.

"Why don't we ask Candle if we can stay with her? She seemed nice enough." They suggested.

"Hm! Good idea," OJ turned to Silver Spoon. "Unless you have any complaints?"

Silver rolled his eyes and scoffed. "I am not sleeping in a cave, like some uncouth-"

"I don't care! We're going. C'mon." Yang interrupted, before trudging off. The three others followed.

~

Upon arriving, they had one problem. The rocks leading up to Candle's cave were wet, and slippery. And that made it very difficult to climb up. So Yang decided a different approach was in order.

He took a breath, and shouted, "CANDLE!"

After a beat, he shouted again, louder. And then she came out. Albeit carefully.

"What are you doing here again?" Candle called back.

"We need shelter! Do you mind if we stay with you for a bit?" OJ yelled back.

"Oh? Sure, I don't mind." Candle nodded, before asking, "Um, do you need help getting up?"

~

"Candle, make a couple strength checks for me?" Floory said.

Candle nodded. "Mhm."

Candle proceeded to roll a 13, 16, 3, and 20. Getting everyone up except for Yin-Yang.

"Traitor!" Yang said.

"I can try again." Candle stated calmly, before rolling again, and getting an 18.

~

After everyone was up, they went back into the cave.

"Thanks for letting us stay, Candle. Even after we uh, tried to steal from you." Paintbrush said.

"It's no problem at all. Why did you come back, anyway?" Candle asked.

"Well, long story short, the king accused us all of being liars and kicked us all out of town." OJ explained.

"I see..."

"What a dumb idiot!" Yang exclaimed. "We should get that treasure and keep it for ourselves!"

"Yang, that's stealing!" Yin chided.

"Serves him right!"

Paintbrush shrugged. "You know what? Sure, what the hell. Why don't we? We could bring it back to him, and be unbanned?"

"Actually, that doesn't sound too bad." OJ said, then turned to Candle. "Would you... Wanna come with us?"

Candle hummed, thinking it over, before smiling softly. "I suppose it would be nice to travel."

Everyone turned to Silver Spoon.

"Fine! Only because I want my job as royal advisor back." He huffed.

"Good. So, where would we find the treasure?" Paintbrush pointed out.

Absolute silence.

"...Nobody?"

"Hey, wait. Silver!" OJ turned to him.

"What?"

"Do you know anything about the treasure being missing?"

"Well, I only really know that it was stolen from the castle itself. The king didn't ask for witnesses, though."

"Then we'll go back there and look for said witnesses!"

Candle looked at him. "But aren't you banned?" The mindful warlock pointed out.

"We can sneak in there. Plus, you aren't banned." OJ responded.

"That could work. Good idea!" Paintbrush commended.

"Very well then. I assume we're leaving when this storm passes?" Silver questioned.

"That's probably for the best." Yin agreed.

~

"So, you guys resting?" Floory said.

"Yeah, we are." Paintbrush answered.

"Cool. Actually, I'm pretty sure that's all the time we have. What time is it?"

"About 12:50. We went a little longer than usual." Candle said, checking her phone.

"Oh! Well, we'll continue this next time."

Chapter Text

Most townspeople didn't exactly take kindly to a dragonborn attempting to ask them about stolen treasure. But from what Candle did manage to gather, apparently they saw a group of little people trying to get into the castle.

"A group of little people?" OJ deadpanned.

"That's what I was told." Candle responded.

"Where in the world are we supposed to find little people! That's the most vague answer you could give!" Silver Spoon complained.

"Did they say anything else? Like where the people were going?" Paintbrush asked.

"No."

"How helpful." OJ rolled his eyes. "Okay. Little people. What could that mean?"

"Don't goblins live around here? They are technically little people." Paintbrush pointed out.

"That's true! We could find a goblin burrow. Goblins live in burrows or something, right?"

"No. Caves." Yin corrected.

~

"Wait, do goblins live in caves in this world?" Yin asked.

"Yeah, usually." Floory nodded. To the best of his ability.

"I know my stuff, Yin! I wanted us to be a goblin for a reason!" Yang boasted.

"Fitting." Silver said.

~

"There's no way we'd be able to find the nearest cave on our own. Silver, you still have that map, don't you?" Candle said.

Silver pulled out said map. "That I do, my dear."

"Great! Let's get moving, everyone!" OJ said.

~

And get moving they did.

The nearest cave was in the midst of thick woodlands. Vines, plants, moss, and animals galore. The silence in the adventurers' walk was broken by the singing of birds and the crunching of grass under their feet.

They were honestly going in blind. They didn't even know if there would be goblins in the cave...

~

"Uhh, everyone make a passive perception check?" Floory suddenly asked.

"Wait what?"

Chapter Text

The group was amazed at what they saw.

The cave was bigger than it looked, and was packed with buildings, structures, and goblins.

"There's a whole city in here!" Paintbrush said.

OJ looked around. "There is... Where in the world would they keep stolen gold? I was expecting some kind of dragon hoard. No offense, Candle."

"None taken."

Four goblins scramble up to them, making aubogobgobilgobblygobser noises.

"Eugh! Do these vermin have any class?" Silver Spoon recoiled.

"Wait! We can understand them." Yin said.

Yin-Yang kneeled down to the goblins' level, hearing them speak.

"YOU!!! NO NON-GOBLINS ALLOWED!! OUT!!" One of the goblins shrieked.

"Oh, don't worry, we're just passing through-" 

"OUT OUT OUT!" The goblins chanted, interrupting Yin, and trying to chomp their ankles.

Yin-Yang yelped, before taking out a mace and whacking one of the goblins.

"YANG!" Yin cried.

"What?? It was deserved!" Yang argued.

~

"Okay, roll initiative, everyone!"

~

With the first goblin very much wounded from Yin-Yang's mace, another goblin lunges at them, but misses completely. Candle uses Mind Sliver on said goblin, but it manages to resist it. Then Silver Spoon points at the second goblin, using Vicious Mockery.

"I hope you're aware that you're garments are disgustingly outdated, my dear."

The goblin simply tilts it's head, unaffected, and Silver lets out a scoff.

Paintbrush rolls their eyes. "Wow, we're doing so well."

Yang lets out a screech and whips the first goblin with their mace, successfully. Paintbrush slashes the second, nearly killing it. It foolishly goes after Candle, but she dodges it. The third goblin, dormant until now, manages to land a nasty scratch on OJ, who immediately uses cure wounds on himself.

The first goblin lunges at Paintbrush, and-

~

"Oh shit-" Floory mutters,

"What?" Everyone stares at him.

"...Paintbrush, start making death saving throws. The goblin got a nat 20."

"Oh you're fucking kidding me."

Much to the delight of everyone at the table, Paintbrush manages to easily succeed their saving throws.

~

Candle, successfully this time, uses Mind Sliver on the first goblin, managing to slaughter it. Silver Spoon attempts to use Charm Person on the third goblin, failing, and muttering something about how rigged the situation is. Yin-Yang proceeds to violently smash the skull of the second goblin open and the third goblin tackles Silver, earning an undignified shriek of horror from the bard. OJ uses Command on the third, final goblin, commanding it to flee. It does so, and the battle is over.

~

After quickly healing Paintbrush, the five set out to look for wherever the goblins would stash gold. Though after a quick glance they spotted a convenient goblin bank, or at least what they thought was a bank, not too far from here.

"Well... Do we break in?" OJ asked.

"YES!" Yang cackled manically and ran to bust down the door, but was quickly pulled back by Candle.

"By break in we mean stealthily break in. Let's see if there's a back door."

They snuck behind the building, looking for a back door.

"I don't see anything other than the unsightly grime in this cave." Silver Spoon shuddered.

"Shhh!" Paintbrush stuck a finger to his lips. "We're going to get caught if you keep whining!" They chided, keeping their voice hushed.

With a sudden flash of shadow, and cut off cries, the five adventurers were gone.